The Frog Dojo
by Logan Jindrak X
Summary: Many generations have passed and we are no longer in the days of ancient China. A young bird arrives in the Valley of Peace to join the legendary Frog Dojo and cement his legacy as a Kung Fu legend. The path to his goal is filled with obstacles and traps, but also with rewards worth the effort.
1. Arrival in the Valley of Peace

**Author's note: Good day to you all. This is my whole new KFP fanfic. Now, it is true that I'm already writing another as you're reading this - I'm talking about "A Peacock's Harem". However, as the title suggests, this story is an harem fanfic. This new fanfic will be different as I will try to focus on character development, progression, good story arcs, and world-building. But enough with my rambling; let this story start!**

**The Frog Dojo**

"Attention, please! We're about to reach the Valley of Peace's arrival station! Please make sure to gather all your belongings, hold your children by the hand, and wait for the train to be completely stopped before standing up."

The voice of the driver through the intercom woke Yukan from a pretty weird dream. The avian let out a loud yawn before standing up from the train seat he filled to be able to take a nap. He cracked a few of his bones before looking out the train's window. There he finally arrived, the Valley of Peace.

The city of the Valley of Peace was built along the banks of a gentle river and is truly a true modern curiosity. Its beauty is matched by the backdrop of a majestic mountain which has helped shape the city to what it is today. The riches these mountains brought were of great importance, but they were also influential when it came to architectural designs as the vast majority of buildings have been built in the shape of those same mountains.

The skyline is packed with similar skyscrapers and they have aspects which represent their past, present, and future. Culture is rising in the Valley of Peace and it has attracted a lot of attention. Various cultures have left their mark not just on business, but also upon the city's identity. What historically was a city of little diversity has grown into a multicultural hub and it's this that unites the 12 million people to this day.

It's this multicultural identity that has truly left its mark. Hundreds of takeouts, concession stands, and theme restaurants offer a plethora of culinary choices and those who feel hungry for something else can enjoy city exploring, dance, musical activities or one of the many other recreational venues. However, none of these make the Valley of Peace stand out from other cities in China. No, the city is famous for its large variety of martial arts dojo. Animals from all around the world come to this majestic city to learn Kung Fu, Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, Jet Kune Do, and pretty much every martial arts in existence. In fact, learning martial arts is the reason that brought young Yukan to this city today.

The train's electric doors soon opened and the passengers in it walked out. Yukan took only a few steps before taking a deep breath of the pure, fresh air, which relieved him from the train's dirty smell. As he walked through the train station, the young avian came across a large pond of water on the floor and decided to give himself a firm inspection on his physique.

His orange feathers were pretty messy from not getting cleaned in a while, but the white facial expressions around his emerald green eyes still looked good. His light blue vest was left open to reveal a black tube top around his chest and some of his puffy yellow tummy. A small hole on the back of his light blue shorts allowed his tail feathers to come out while also avoiding to cover his black talons. He gave a quick lick to a red feather on the tip of his wing to brush the three large feathers that served as his hair on the back of his skull. Yukan always thought he looked like an ordinary 21-year-old boy, but the high amount of attention he received from girls led him to think otherwise by moments.

As soon as his inspection ended, the parrot heard the sound of utensils clicking against plates and mouths munching on food. He turned to see some sort of small noddle bar with around five customers sitting in front of the counter and savoring bowls of noodles - they were probably delicious judging by the speed at which they were eating. Yukan reached into the pocket of his jacket to take out his wallet and check the money at his disposition. He smiled after seeing his budget would allow him to get a quick dinner.

Yukan walked over to the noodle bar and sat before the counter next to one of the customers. The bar's cook, a male pig with a lot of flesh and a white apron, took notice of him and gave a welcoming smile. "Hello, my young mister! What can we do for you today?"

After giving a quick look through the menu paper on the shop's wall, Yukan made his decision. "I'm gonna take the noodle soup with artificial eggs, please."

"Excellent choice! That's my favorite one!" After giving his order which the cook left to prepare, Yukan heard a loud voice talking beside him. He turned to see that the customer beside him looked at Yukan with a bright smile on his beak.

A male peregrine falcon with black markings over his white face and around his yellow eyes. An old-looking gold yellow robe held in place with a blue sash around his waist covered most of his body, but his brown wings are visible, holding the chopsticks he uses to eat a bowl of what Yukan is also about to eat. Despite the quality of the robe, one can easily tell that this falcon is not a noble or royalty. And yet, a certain charisma emanated from him.

"You like artificial egg noodles?"

"Yup, they're perfectly balanced in terms of flavor with some salt and the feeling of the eggs melting in your mouth...it's a wonder!" the falcon said and laughed loudly.

Yukan couldn't wait to find out if what this falcon told the truth - he did not eat anything especially good in a few days now. So saying that his taste buds jumped in joy when the warm noodles touched them would be an understanding. His mouth practically begged for more and the sun parrot finished his bowl in a matter of seconds. The burp he let out afterward indicated how much he enjoyed it.

"My, my! I think I just found someone who likes artificial egg noodles more than I do!" the falcon said with yet another loud laughter that disturbed some of the customers. "You're from around here, kid?" he asked after his laughter died down.

"No; I only arrived here a few minutes ago," Yukan replied. "I've come to join a martial arts Dojo called The Frog Dojo. I heard a lot about it and I think it might be the best place for me to become a great fighter."

"Oooh, so you're looking to become a Master in this city?!" the falcon asked with interest. "This is great! You're at the right place to learn martial arts. Did you know that some of China's greatest heroes were from this city? Back in the old days, it was a small village counting only around 200 animals instead of 12 million ones. I truly cannot wait to see what the new generation is capable of!"

Yukan couldn't help but smile at the falcon. "Yeah, I can't wait to face the challenge ahead of me." He looked down for a brief moment. "This is my only chance to start a new life." He then looked back at the falcon. "So you're from this city then?"

"Nope." The falcon took a cup of sake he ordered alongside his noodles and took a big sip from it. "I arrived in this city earlier today. I did not take the train or plane; I prefer flying by myself with my own wings when I want to get somewhere. I've come to pay a little visit to a friend of mine in prison. I was going to head there after finishing my meal."

Yukan just nodded at the falcon before giving the money he owned to the cook and standing up. "Well, I better be going now. I still have to find the Frog Dojo before nightfall if I wanna sleep somewhere. I don't really have enough money to sleep in an inn." He turned and walked out of the shop. "Have a nice trip."

"You too, boy! Good luck at your Dojo! Hehehehe!" the falcon laughed loudly again before standing up. "I should get going too. It is impolite to keep my friend waiting alone in prison."

"Hum, sir!" the pig cook called before the falcon could leave his shop. "You forgot to pay for the meal."

* * *

After leaving the noodle shop, Yukan got blessed to find a small tourist shop with maps of the city showing every location of the various districts. He picked one up and started making his way to the Frog Dojo. On his way, the sun parrot walked through many streets of different styles - unlike his avian comrades, Yukan preferred walking instead of flying. It just felt better to him.

After crossing four relatively peaceful and quiet streets, Yukan came across a street busy with a large crowd of animals gathered around something. A lot of chats filled the air and Yukan's curiosity took the better of him. He decided to approach the crowd and get informed on the situation.

"What's going on? There's a sale of free video games?" he asked.

"No!" a young goose answered him. "It's "Golden Fist" Mao Ren! Someone insulted him and is taking a beating right now!" he said in a frightened tone.

Yukan blinked his eyes. He never heard about this "Golden Fist" Mao Ren...but it sounded like a criminal's name. And he attacked someone simply for insulting him? Yup, definitely a bad guy! Yukan decided to interfere, so he pushed his way through the crowd and to the middle of the scene. His emerald green eyes soon widened.

On the ground laid a badly beaten pig, but even with his bruised face, he still looked better than his attacker who had the most ridiculous appearance Yukan ever saw. A male warthog with grey skin and purple robes. However, one could easily miss these traits since they were buried under a pile of gold and other jewels. This warthog wore all the jewels one could think of, including a large golden chain around his neck and brass knuckles on his fists. These last ones were covered of blood, visibly the pig's.

"And next time, you'll think twice before insulting me, pig!" the warthog spat at the wounded pig who quickly ran away in fear.

Yukan blinked his eyes before leaning toward a nearby goose. "Who's that moron dressed in gold?"

The warthog's ears twitched, indicating he must have heard his comment. This possibility got confirmed when the little chubby warthog turned around and walked toward Yukan, all the animals close to him backing up in fear. "Do you know who I am?!" he asked with getting so close to the sun parrot's face that he spat a little bit and allowed him to get an unpleasant taste of his breath. "I'm Mao Ren, pal! The toughest guy you'll ever meet in this city! The guy you just saw running away like a chicken took the wrong decision to insult me, so I recommend you don't do the same unless you want to taste my golden fist!"

Yukan winced and waved his wing in front of his face. "Well, just your breath is enough to give me a headache, so I'm not really sure I wanna meet your-"

PAF!

The sun parrot's head twisted to the side after receiving a devastating right hook from the warthog. The golden brass knuckle delivered extra damage that a normal fist could not. "I warned you; do not insult the Golden Fist, boy!" Mao Ren declared with a mocking smirk. He thought he won this confrontation with no problem, that Yukan went down like the innocent pig he beat down moments ago.

He was wrong.

Yukan slowly turned his head with a pissed off look toward the warthog who did not expect this, judging by the look of surprised he displayed. The sun parrot reached his wing to rub off some blood on the corner of his beak and glared at Mao Ren. "You think that's a punch? Sorry to disappoint you...but I'm gonna show you what a REAL punch is like..."

Yukan curled his wing into a fist and set it on fire out of nowhere. The animals all around - Mao Ren the most - all widened their eyes in surprise. This sun parrot possessed powers! "N-No, wait!" Mao Ren begged with lifting his hooves.

"ROARING FIST!"

Yukan smashed his burning fist across Mao Ren's face, sending him flying into a building's brick wall. It left a crack under the impact, but nothing that could not be fixed with a little work. Mao Ren fell face-first on the ground with a thud and some smoke emanating from the side of his face. Yukan gave a triumphant smirk and pulled the fire away from his fist.

"Alright, call the police to send this thug in prison," Yukan asked the civilians. One of them nodded and took out his cell phone.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Yukan turned around at this new voice. He got meet by a female eagle watching at him in awe.

Pure white feathers covering a skinny body and gentle face. Golden yellow eyes set deeply within their sockets watching in amazement the scene that happened before her. Several feathers standing out of her delicate neck and powerful legs decorated with sharp talons. A golden chest plate that almost looks like a sport bra covering her upper body and golden armor shorts on her waist leave her blue tummy and well-toned abs exposed. There's something bewildering about her, perhaps it's a feeling of comfort or perhaps it's simply her gentleness.

Yukan blinked his eyes at the female eagle who just praised what he did. "Huh, thanks."

"I saw what you just did!" the eagle said, her golden beak forming a smile. "You have fire powers? That's very impressive! I haven't seen someone with fire powers around here before!"

"Oh, you know, it was no big deal. Just a little thug who wanted attention."

The female eagle suddenly shook her head and took a more serious expression. "Where are my manners? My name is Shining Eagle."

"I'm Yukan Tori. Nice to meet you."

"So you're new around here, Yukan? Cause I fly around the city every day and I never spotted any sun parrot like you before."

"Yup," Yukan confirmed with a nod. "I arrived around an hour ago. I came to join a place called the Frog Dojo; I heard a lot about its master named Shujinko. I think I may be able to learn martial arts from him."

Shining Eagle's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, the Frog Dojo?! Dude, that's the Dojo I'm part of!"

Yukan looked at her in surprise. "R-Really? You're from the Frog Dojo?"

"Yeah! I've been working there under Master Shujinko's watch for three years now! After leaving the Aerial Academy, of course." She then opened her wings and flapped them to start flying. "Come on; I'm gonna show you where the Dojo is located! I can't believe we're gonna have a new comrade!"

As Shining Eagle took off in the sky, Yukan ran after her through the streets. In the end, he would have somewhere to sleep tonight...

**The first thing you probably noticed is that unlike most other KFP fanfics out there, this one is set in a modern time instead of the ancient China era. Also, Po is not the main protagonist of this story; we instead have my own character, Yukan Tori the sun parrot. This is to give me more creative freedom for this fanfic. Do not worry though, as characters from the movies and TV show will still appear, and Kung Fu is still the story's theme.**

**Next time: Yukan arrives to the Frog Dojo and meet up with its members as well as Master Shujinko, the one in charge.**

**Another thing. For this story, I'm taking inspiration from my most favorite author of all time, Eichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece. The guy's a master in the art of foreshadowing which is why I like his pirate manga so much. During my time in vacations, I took the time to plan this fanfic ahead so that I might add foreshadowing elements and also make this story in a way that will allow the readers to analyze it and come up with their own theories. So you can already start asking you many questions (ex: Where is Yukan from? Why did he come to the Valley of Peace? Who was that falcon he discussed with?).**

**Oh, and Mao Ren is a boss from the online game "Tales Of Po" which I used to play when I was younger.**

**Except that, I hope you will enjoy ready this fanfic as much as I enjoy writing it. As always, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	2. The Frog Dojo

Yukan panted. Twenty minutes passed since he started running after Shining Eagle who accepted to lead him to the Frog Dojo. If he knew his destination would take so much jogging to reach, he would have brought a water bottle with him. He did not complain, however, since he went through harder training than just jogging. Just a small walk in the park wouldn't hurt him. Before long, he found Shining Eagle who tapped her foot on the ground with her white wings crossed.

"You sure took your time," she remarked with amusement.

"Hey, you were flying while I ran; don't complain," Yukan said as he arrived before her.

"You could have flown too; you're a bird in case you didn't notice," she sarcastically replied.

"I know, but I just prefer walking." He then noticed a basement behind her. It was built with brown stones and has pine wooden decorations. Large octagon windows added to the overall look of the building and have been added to the building in a very asymmetric way. A wooden board stood over the entrance gate reading: "The Frog Dojo".

"This is...," Yukan mumbled in surprise.

"Yup," Shining Eagle nodded with a smile. "Welcome to the Frog Dojo!" The two avians advanced toward the entrance gate with Shining Eagle ahead. As she pushed the wooden structure open, Yukan's heart beat in anticipation.

The building is square-shaped with octagon windows revealing a large garden around the building. The second floor is smaller than the first with many doors leading to what Yukan assumes are other rooms or balconies. A set of stairs allows to reach the second floor. The roof is low and slanted to one side and is covered with redwood shingles. One large chimney pokes out the center of the roof. The first floor is equipped with a small kitchen and three bathrooms, it also has a huge living room, a bar, and a snug dining area.

The building was inhabited by many different animals. They were hanging around, chatting, having a drink at the bar, and some were even fighting. "Whoa! This place looks cool!" Yukan said with stepping into the building and looking all around.

"It's sweet, isn't it?" Shining Eagle asked with a smile. "I think I made exactly the same face as you when I arrived here for the first time. Though I was beaming and jumping a lot more," she added with a giggle.

"Hey, Shining, who did you bring?" Yukan turned his head to see a young martial eagle sitting at a table and drinking a cup.

She has purple and white feathers with black and white underlining. Her eyes are yellow and blue and her feet are dark gray. She has a dark grey beak and a black crown on her head. She wears a dark purple vest with grey pants. Her face reflects an indifferent expression, a bit like a teenager that cannot be easily impressed.

"Oh, hello, Kivuli," Shining Eagle responded the martial eagle with a smile. "This is Yukan, our new friend. He will join our Dojo."

The sun parrot decided to be polite and step toward the martial eagle to offer a wingshake. "Hi, Kivuli, right? I'm Yukan Tori, nice to meet you."

Kivuli simply stared at him, raising an eyebrow, and took another sip of her cup. Yukan could tell she wasn't the most talkative one. Shining Eagle put a wing on his shoulder. "She's not very talkative, but once she opens up to you, Kivuli's a great friend. Don't worry."

The two started walking into the Dojo. "So, where's Master Shujinko?" Yukan decided to ask.

"Oh, so you heard about our master?"

"Well, only the rumors and stories about him. From what I've heard, he's a great master who can turn anyone into a cool warrior. That's why I decided to come here and see for myself."

"INCOMING!"

Yukan stopped in his tracks and turned his head toward the source of this scream. To his shock, a pretty big barrel came rolling down from the stairs leading to the second floor and straight toward him. Thanks to his reflex, he managed to roll out of the way in time. The barrel crashed hard on the floor and broke into shards, spilling what looked like sake everywhere. But the part that surprised Yukan the most was the figure whom he failed to notice carried the barrel prior to falling.

A young frog with mostly yellow skin and black spots. His casual frog-like body structure consists of slightly orange eyeballs with black pupils and blue irises, a large, elongated light pink tongue, four short limbs with four-fingered hands and two-toed feet. He wears a dark forest green hat with light green goggles and a sleeveless jacket paired with black shorts. Right now, he is completely wet with sake and dazzled by what happened.

"Awww, you kidding me?!" he exclaimed with shaking some sake off his arms. "Who is stupid enough to let a cup lying in front of the stairs?!" He then noticed Yukan and quickly walked over to him. "Excuse me, can I borrow your clothes for a while?"

"Huh..."

"What were you doing with this barrel, Kodok?" Shining Eagle asked the young frog with putting her wings on her hips.

"Well, we were about to run out of drink at the bar, so the others asked me to go get some in the supply room," the frog named Kodok explained. He took his goggles off and rubbed the sake off them. "I grabbed a barrel, but someone left a wooden cup just in front of the stairs; I stepped on it and that's why I fell. If I discover who left it there, I will-"

CRASH!

Before Kodok could finish his sentence, a goat came flying out of nowhere to crash into him, sending the two of them right into the wall. A loud wave of cheers caused Yukan to turn where the goat came and saw a large crowd of animals gathered around something. A bit like the one he saw around Mao Ren earlier that day, except this one sounded way more enthusiast. The sounds of punches and kicks let the sun parrot understand a fight occurred at the very moment.

Curiosity getting the best of him, Yukan decided to make his way through the crowd and see what happened. To his surprise, the beatdown wasn't happening between though guys looking to play king of the hill as he expected...but rather boys were getting their butts kicked by a girl.

A female Asian golden cat with light brown fur decorated with dark brown stripes, yellow-orange eyes, and white facial expressions around her eyes. Her dress consists of a slightly flashier teal-colored version of a typical Kung Fu student's uniform: a fitting tunic, loose pants, and leg wrap. In addition, she also wears a teal cuirass and matching (presumably leather) belt and gloves. Overall, she's a very beautiful woman with an energetic aura emanating from her.

Yukan simply stared as this feline swung her bo staff around to defeat her opponents with swift yet elegant moves. She finished the last one off with a swift dolphin kick in the jaw that made her land by some strange coincidence right before Yukan. "And another victory for me! You gonna have to do better than that, boys!" she said with looking over her shoulder and giving a wink. She then turned toward Yukan and blinked her eyes at him in curiosity. "Who are you? I never saw you around here."

"Hum, my name's Yukan Tori. I'm new here," the sun parrot explained.

"Yukan Tori? That's a nice name," the golden cat said with a smile before extending her gloved paw toward him. "I'm Mei Ling, nice to meet you." Yukan smiled and accepted to shake her paw with his wing. After this, she gave him a playful grin. "Wanna show everyone what you can do by stepping in the ring for a fight?"

Yukan widened his eyes. He knew he could beat strongers opponents with all the training he went through in his life...but facing this girl after what she just did didn't sound really appealing to him. Luckily, Shining Eagle called for him at this very moment.

"Yukan! Come here! Master Shujinko has arrived!"

Yukan's eyes widened. Excitation rushed through him. He would meet his new master at this very moment! Turning away from Mei Ling, he rushed at Shining Eagle's side to see the Dojo's gate slowly opening and a figure walking through... A very... small... figure... Yukan blinked his eyes.

Dark green skin wet with a substance most don't even want to know about. Yellow eyes with black irises blinking with curiosity and fatigue. A yellow tunic, revealing a small light green robe held by a brown belt around the waist. So is the appearance of Master Shujinko. He stands tiny among others despite having something that makes his presence easy to notice.

As Yukan stared in confusion at him, the little frog took notice of him and blinked his yellow eyes. "Who are you, young parrot?"

"Y-Yukan Tori, sir," the sun parrot replied. "I'm a new recruit here."

The little frog (Yukan realized he was smaller than Kodok despite being from the same species) blinked his eyes twice before twisting his pudgy lips into a smile and raising his hand. "Nice to meet ya."

Yukan leaned toward Shining Eagle and mumbled: "He's the one in charge here?"

"Yes, he's Master Shujinko, Master of the Frog Dojo," Shining Eagle replied with a smile. Yukan slapped his own head. Of course! "The Frog Dojo"; he should've expected its master to be a frog.

Master Shujinko walked to the middle of the room before hopping up to the second floor from where he could look at all of his students. Yukan noticed he seemed rather angry. "I hope you are happy, you bunch of clowns! You've gone and done it again! You've caused so much trouble that the Kung Fu Council had to give me another message!" He reached into his tunic to reveal a pile of papers. "Just look at all the complaints I've received from civilians!"

"What is it this time?" Kivuli asked after taking a sip from her sake bottle.

"First of all, Kivuli, many of our clients complained that your ways of dealing with criminals are too 'extreme'!"

"What? We do what we must during missions." The martial eagle drank more of her sake.

"A noble complains that Kodok dropped a wooden crate on him during a mission!"

"It was an accident!" the younger frog quickly defended himself.

Shujinko sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "Seriously, all you kids are good for is getting the Masters of the Kung Fu Council mad at me!" As all the students lowered their heads in shame, Yukan rubbed the back of his. He did not expect the Frog Dojo to be filled with trouble makers disappointing their master.

"... Luckily for you..."

Shujinko suddenly ripped the complain papers to pieces before tossing them all in the air. "...I couldn't care less about what the Kung Fu Council thinks."

_"What?!" Did this frog really torn apart these papers and openly insulted the Kung Fu Council? The union of most respected Kung Fu Masters in China?!_

"Now listen up," Shujinko said in a calmer tone. "Kung Fu isn't some sort of blessing that you are born with that grows over with time: it is a talent that one must work hard to upgrade again and again. To become a great Kung Fu master, you need to keep pushing yourself through the challenges and give the best of yourself." He gave a serious look to his student. "If you do nothing but worry about following rules and having a good public image, then it is the same thing as leaving a flower in the dark: your Kung Fu will never blossom. This is why I'm telling you to not let those hotheads on the council scare you: fight for what you believe in! Because this is what makes the Frog Dojo number one!" he concluded his speech by throwing a fist in the air.

The whole Dojo erupted into cheers with the students throwing their fists in the air as well and laughing in joy. Yukan couldn't help but smile and laugh a bit too. The people were special and the master even more... he already loved that place!

After the master's whole speech, Shining Eagle led Yukan to his chamber located on the second floor. A little small with a window giving a view on the garden and a soft bed. Not fancy, but it was better than sleeping outside. Yukan opened his belongings and placed them everywhere to get installed in his new staying place. Once he finished, Shining Eagle proceeded to explain him how things worked at the Frog Dojo.

The system was very different from a normal Kung Fu Dojo - like Yukan's former one - for Shujinko only trained his students every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the other days were offs. The mission system also worked differently: if civilians needed help, they could send mission requests to the Dojo and show what the reward is. At any moment, a student or many ones could take a mission under their care and get the reward after accomplishing it or just giving it up.

As exciting as this new Dojo sounded, the sun settled away, leaving the moon to rise, and Yukan decided to lay in his bed for the night. He stared at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts.

"Training...or going on my first mission here?" He smiled. "We'll see that tomorrow..."

**We met the members of the Frog Dojo who will also serve as this story's main characters. I will not lie to you: I took a lot of inspiration from the Fairy Tail guild introduction in the anime's second episode. From my point of view, it is the perfect example of how to introduce a large group of characters without ruining the story. We will learn more about these characters throughout the next chapter.**

**I will ask you the following questions: What do you think about the Frog Dojo members? Do you think Yukan should train with Master Shujinko for the next chapter or go on his first mission? And of course, do not hesitate to tell me if there are any grammar errors. Except that, may the gods watch over you all.**


	3. The first mission

Yukan woke up and made his way to the Frog Dojo's restroom after a good night of sleep. After spending a night in a tramway - which isn't pleasant at all, he could tell you - resting in a good bed felt like a huge relief. After taking a quick shower (another huge relief; he didn't have the chance to clean himself in many days and his feathers smelled terrible) and brushing his beak, he went to the Dojo's living room. To his surprise, many students were already awake, either relaxing on the couches, taking their breakfast, or checking the mission requests board.

"Hey, Yukan!" The sun parrot turned his head toward the dinig room wher ehe saw Shining Eagle waving her wing in excitation at him. "Come over here! I saved you some food!"

Indeed, she sat at a table with a bowl filled with a warm noodle soup and alongside a plate of tofu and rice close to her. Yukan's stomach almost instantly started growling from hunger. "Thanks, Shining," he said with sitting down beside her. "Is food free in this Dojo or do we have to pay for it?"

The golden eagle giggled a bit in reaction and nudged his shoulder. "Yukan, we don't have to pay for anything; Master Shujinko uses the money we earn from the missions to furnish everything the students and masters of this Dojo need." She then gave him questioning look. "Speaking of which, what are you gonna do for your first day here?"

Yukan finished swallowing some noodles - which he adored - when she asked this question. "Well, I hesitated between going on my first mission or asking Master Shujinko to teach me something first. I thought about it all night... and I decided I wanted to go for a mission first."

"Cool. Once you're done eating, we can go check the mission requests board and see what's interesting."

Yukan ate his first Dojo breakfast with appetite and went to the bar to get a good orange juice to drink along it before going to the mission requests board. This wooden board had tens of papers covering it - some with images, some with only words. But they all have one thing in common: numbers representing the rewards for accomplishing those missions. Some were pretty small and others, very big: from the 10s all the way up to the 1000s. The bigger ones were reserved for the strongest: the bigger the effort, the bigger the reward.

"So, what kind of mission are you looking for?" Shining Eagle asked.

"I was gonna start with something soft for my first mission here. Not too easy though; I like when there's some challenge," Yukan replied without looking away from the board. After a while, his gaze landed on a paper reading 500 yuan. Interested, he took the paper and started reading it.

"What is it?" Shining Eagle asked with looking over his shoulder at the paper.

"It's a call for help," the sun parrot responded while reading the message. "It's from the Tuvani Village. Apparently, they have bee harassed a lot by a group of coyotes lately. They need help because they're about to run out of supplies to make it through winter." The thought of kind villagers getting bullied and possibly die because of it simply to please a bunch of a-holes sufficed to make his blood boil a bit. He made up his mind. Pulling the paper into the pocket of his jacket, he turned toward Shining Eagle. "I'm gonna take this mission! I will go to Tuvani Village and get them rid of those criminals!"

"Cool!" Shining Eagle said with a smile. "Can I come with you? I'm sure I can help. And besides, I'd like to see more of what you can do."

"Sure, no problem. Let's go." Yukan headed out of the Dojo with Shining Eagle beside him. As soon as they were out, the female avian took off in the sky and in their destination's direction. "...Looks like I'll arrive second ..."

* * *

Yukan and Shining Eagle arrived in the Tuvani Village after two hours of walking on the roads outside the Valley of Peace's city. The latter decided to stop flying in order to walk beside her sun parrot friend and ask him many questions: "Where are you from?" Ryos Village, Japan. "What's your fighting style?" You'll see when we face those scumbags. "What's your favorite food?" Does it really matter?

Engineered around a bluff, the village of Tuvani looks dull. With its half rotten rooftops, worn limestone walls and overgrown gardens, Tuvani has a ghoulish atmosphere.  
The main attraction is the town hall, which was built 55 years ago and designed by barbarians. Tuvani has an advancing economy, which is mainly supported by crafting, armorsmithing and weaponsmithing.

"Wow, this place looks pretty good," Shining Eagle commented as she looked around the street they were walking in.

"Not happy thought," Yukan remarked. Indeed, the people of this village looked low in moral, not a single one of them doing anything with enthusiasm. "And not welcoming either." Indeed, most of the villagers stared at the two newcomers with suspicious and even nervous looks.

They came across an elder bunny dressed in a brown vest and Shining Eagle decided to interrogate him. "Excuse me, sir, do you have a moment?"

The bunny turned to face them and went from sleepy-looking to scary-looking in a split-second. "Huh... o-of course, what do you want?"

"We need information about what's going on around here."

The bunny suddenly gave them a serious and hostile look. "Listen, you two, I don't know why you came here, but we already gave almost all of our supplies to your boss in exchange for peace! We want you out of our village! Stop bothering us!"

"Hey, hey, calm down, old bunny!" Yukan said on the defensive with raising his wings. "We're here to help you with the criminal thing! We're from the Frog Dojo in the Valley of Peace!"

The bunny's look quickly went from angry to surprised. "Y-You are from the Frog Dojo?!" He then grabbed Shining Eagle's wings with his paw and expressed a look of relief. "Oh my gosh! Our prayers have been answered! We thought that the Valley of Peace would never send anybody to help us! You arrive just in time; we're about to be out of supplies."

"Yes, we read your help demand," Yukan said. "So tell us what's the situation and how we can help you."

"A few weeks ago, these atrocious coyotes started attacking our village and forced us to give them all of our supplies - food, wood, everything we need to survive!" the bunny explained. "If this continues, we won't have what it takes to survive winter! They come back once a week to collect our dues and then leave us in peace for a whole week. But our waiting time is about to be over."

Shining Eagle nodded her head. "So do you know when they will come back here?"

The bunny's face suddenly turned pale. "R-Right... now..."

The two avians rose curious eyebrows before realizing the elder bunny stared behind them. Exchanging a quick gaze, they also turned around... and were met with the unexpected sight of tens of coyotes armed with weapons like blades, axes, bows and arrows, etc. "... Answers your question?" Yukan asked.

"Who are you two folks? We never saw you around here before," one of the coyote bandits asked.

"We're masters from the Frog Dojo!" Shining Eagle declared with a firm look. "You're gonna leave these townfolks alone and stop stealing from them or we're gonna have to teach you a lesson!"

The coyotes stared at her... before breaking out laughing. "You heard that, boys? The bimbo birdie wants us to leave!"

"What are you gonna do, sexy birdie? Peck at us until we leave?" another one laughed.

Shining Eagle's eyes turned into a dreadful glare. "Oh, you made the mistake of calling me a bimbo! I'll show you the strength of the Aviation Academy!" With that being said, the female eagle took a position with her wings raised up to her head level and standing on one leg. Yukan recognized it as the Crane Style stance.

"Some action at last!" Yukan also took a stance, placing his left wing horizontally at his chest level and his right one vertically behind his head with his legs spread apart. The traditional stance of South Praying Mantis style. Shining Eagle felt a bit surprised as she expected the sun parrot to use any aerial martial art form; not this kind.

"Let's turn these birdies into our noon snack, boys!" one of the coyotes said with brandishing a sword. The pack agreed and charged at the two friends together.

Shining Eagle kicked things off by delivering a devastating bicycle kick right into one of the coyote's face, knocking him out on the spot. She then performed a spin to hit her wings in a slice-like motion into two coyotes' heads, sending them flying away from her. The aerial master followed by flapping her wings hard and taking off to the sky. This gave her the chance to see how Yukan was doing on his own.

Down below, the sun parrot readied himself to face the many coyotes approaching him, not releasing his stance even for a second. Once his enemies came close enough, he started taking them down one after the other with strong, firm attacks. He started by curling his wing like a fist and uppercuting a coyote to send him in the air before superkicking another coyote's chin, sending him crashing into a nearby barrel. One of the bandits swung his sword at the sun parrot who found himself backflipping to dodge the attack.

"You gotta try harder!"

Yukan delivered a roundhouse kick to the bandit's head, stunning him long enough for Yukan to lift and toss him in two of his friends. Seeing more of the coyotes closing in on him, the sun parrot realized he would have to go hard if he wanted to win. "Time to show you some of my inner power!" he declared. Curling his right wing into a fist, he set it on fire just like he did against Mao Ren the day before.

"ROARING FIST!"

The burning fist collided with a coyote's face, burning it, and sending its owner to crash into five of his friends who all fell like dominoes. Not releasing the pressure, Yukan followed with another fire attack toward a group of coyotes. "PHOENIX BREATH!" Yukan took a deep breath before blowing out a huge jet of fire that set the bandits on fire. They started running around while screaming in pain. The fire would not kill them, but certainly damage them enough to knock them out of the battle.

"And now, for the final strike, I give you the Firefly Bombs!" The sun parrot rose his wings which started glowing an orange light. Then, small glowing orbs came out and floated toward his enemies who stared in confusion at them. Grinning, Yukan snapped his pointing feathers and then...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The little orbs all blew into small explosions which hit the remaining coyotes' heads and knocked them out. Yukan rubbed his wings together and stared at all the defeated bandits scattered across the village's floor and smiled. "Phew, wasn't too hard after all-"

SMACK!

He turned just in time to see a coyote falling to the ground after a dive attack from Shining Eagle. "Careful there; this guy snuck up on you and almost stabbed your back," she said with looking at the sun parrot.

"Oh, I didn't notice. Thanks for saving me, Shining."

"No probs," she replied with winking at him.

Then, the villagers all came out of their hiding spots to gather around their saviors and cheer. "You saved us all! Thank you so much!" the elder bunny from earlier thanked the avians, almost hugging them.

Yukan smiled at this. It always felt good to help those who needed to be helped. A female bunny then approached them with a bag filled with what Yukan guessed was the reward. "Here's the money we promised. Take it as a thanking gift."

"Thanks," Shining Eagle said with taking the reward. "Call the Imperial Army to lock those bandits up in prison. Yukan and I will go back to our Dojo now. Have a nice day."

And with that, the two avians walked from the village with its people still cheering at them. "So? How'd you find your first mission here?" Shining asked while holding the reward bag and walking beside Yukan.

"It was pretty fun," Yukan admitted with resting the back of his head against his wings. "Though there's still a lot of time before the end of the day. I think I will ask Master Shujinko to teach me a few things once we get back at the Dojo."

Shining Eagle nodded at him. A few seconds of silence passed before the female avian formed a grin on her beak and stared at her friend. "So...since I have saved you back in the village...will you repay me with a date?"

This statement caused Yukan to look at her in surprise, releasing his relaxing stance. "What?"

Shining Eagle giggled at his small but satisfying reaction. "Relax; I was just joking..."


	4. The first training

"You have to believe me, Master!" the coyote leader begged. "These birds were not ordinary; they came from the Frog Dojo! The students of this Dojo are trained by the legendary Master Shujinko! And one of them could create fire!"

Following their defeat at the Tuvani Village, the few coyotes who did not get arrested by the Imperial Army managed to flee from the scene and ran off to the set of mountains far in the city's distance. However, wherever they hoped to seek security, they did not find it in this destination; barely have they entered the shadowy cave did their leader in the dark struck all of them with violence. Right now, only the leader still stood on his knees as all the others lay near the small entrance of the cave, groaning in pain.

"Master Shujinko you say?" the voice said in a soft yet threatening tone in the dark. Its owner marked a pause to think. "...So your mission wasn't a complete failure then. I haven't heard a lot about this old amphibian lately. I wanted to find him in a very long time." Emerald green eyes then opened and shone in the middle of the dark. "I hope you are not too mad at me for striking you before giving me this good news. You will not hold this as a grudge against me?"

The coyote leader trembled a bit before giving a nervous smile. "O-Of course not, Master! I did something stupid and probably deserved what you gave to me, he, he..."

A little scoff was heard in the dark. "Go now; I have some planning to do now that I know where Master Shujinko is located. I must prepare to strike..."

* * *

"So your first mission is a success?" Kodok asked with a smile.

"Totally! Just a good old brawl with a bunch of amateur criminals," Shining Eagle boasted with a smile. "And Yukan did most of the work; he has quite the technique, you know."

"Come on, Shining," Yukan said, trying not to blush. "You're gonna make me blush. And you did save my butt at the last second too." He then noticed a detail. "Hey, where's our reward?"

"I had to drop half of it to Master Shujinko's room."

"What?! Why?"

Shining Eagle rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, Master Shujinko instored a special rule saying that half of the reward we get upon accomplishing a mission must go to him so that he can keep taking care of our Dojo. This is why, unless you take a big mission, you won't get rich anytime soon."

Yukan gave the female eagle a half-glare. "You sure this old frog isn't taking the money to secretly buy alcohol or adult comic books?" He then remembered something else. "Hey, speaking of which, do you know where Master Shujinko is? I'd like to train a bit with him."

"He's in the training room," Kodok said, pointing toward a door next to the restroom's. "You can go see him; he's ready to teach us today. Kivuli went to see him as well."

"Okay."

Yukan walked over to the door and walked in. To his surprise, the set of wooden stairs that awaited him went downwards into the ground. This Dojo even had a cave? Cool. The stairs took him a full minute to walk down before arriving in front of another door - this one being made of paper with a sliding wooden edge. Unlike all the other doors Yukan has seen in the Dojo that are wooden with knobs.

"Strange," Yukan thought as he pulled the door open to see what awaited him behind it.

This room alone looks more like a Dojo than the rest of the building, with the walls being covered of paper just like in any other Dojo in the world. The stone ceiling seems rather close to the floor to the point one can feel claustrophobic. A small candle provides the small amount of light to the room, standing right next to Master Shujinko. The old frog sits down on the far end of the room in a meditation position, holding a small cup of tea in his hands.

Kivuli was also present in the room. She trained under the watch of Shujinko, performing strong and precise Kung Fu moves. Yukan recognized it as the Crane Style of Kung Fu. Not wanting to disturb her training, he walked over to Shujinko and gave a bow. "Hello, Master. I just finished my first mission and I wanted to know if you could-"

The old frog interrupted the sun parrot by lifting a finger and started lapping his long tongue into his cup of tea to take small, quick sip. Not wanting to be impolite, he waited for his master to finish drinking his cup... but it took quite a while and he tapped impatiently on his lap with his wing. Then, after what felt like an eternity, but was actually thirty seconds, Shujinko finished his cup and looked at the sun parrot. "Yes, Yukan?"

"As I said, I just came back from my first mission with Shining Eagle, and it was a success. Since there's still a lot of time remaining before the end of the day, I came to ask you to train me a little bit. Could you do that?"

The frog twisted his lips into a smile. "Of course, young Yukan. I am always to teach to my students - only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays though. However, since you are new here and I never saw you in action, would you mind showing me a little of what you can do?"

"No problem, Master."

"Good." Shujinko then turned his head toward the other avian in the room. "Kivuli, would you accept to spar with Yukan so that we can see what he's capable of?"

"Of course, Master," the martial eagle said with nodding and then gestured for Yukan to join her with her wing.

Yukan walked on the opposite side of Kivuli so that both avian could bow down to each other. After this, Kivuli took the traditional Crane Style pose by lifting her wings and standing on one leg - just like Shining Eagle did back at the Tuvali Village earlier. She would fight the same way, then? Excellent! He would use his own fighting style in that case. Yukan spread his legs and placed his right wing horizontal to his chest and his left one vertical to his head.

Master Shujinko gave a slightly surprised look. "This stance, the Southern Praying Mantis Style?"

"Yes; that's my fighting style, Master."

"That's pretty surprising I must say. Avians like you usually rely on styles that includes flying around. The one you're using is the opposite: standing your ground and hitting with strength. I can't wait to see that."

Yukan and Kivuli started things off by walking around in circles until the martial eagle decided to make the first move. She charged with a direct move at the sun parrot, thrusting her wing toward his chest. Yukan managed to push it sideways at the last moment, avoiding what would have been a damaging hit for his torso, and counterattacked with a roundhouse kick. The attack missed for Kivuli lowered her head in time, Yukan's foot just rubbing against her headfeathers.

Despite the room's large space, the fact that the ceiling held so low above them meant that Kivuli could not take up to the skies to get distance between Yukan and herself or go for aerial attacks. Thus, the sun parrot got a huge advantage over her. After blocking and countering the martial eagle's strikes and talon slashes, he fought back with violent punches and kicks. While she did dodge and block them all, this left her with little room to counter attack.

After a moment, Yukan managed to feint a roundhouse kick into a bicycle one right into Kivuli's chest, knocking her back. While she landed on her feet, the way she coughed indicated that Yukan did some damage to her.

"Not bad, I'll give you that," she said with rubbing her chest.

"Not bad? That's all you have to say when I'm kicking your butt?" Yukan asked with a chuckle.

"Don't get too cocky. You haven't seen everything I'm capable of."

Kivuli then rose her wing above her head. A purple glowing seal appeared just over it and Yukan looked in surprise. She used magic? "Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!" A sword softly came out of the seal and straight into the martial eagle's wing which she curled to hold the handle.

A fairly large, broad, slightly curved blade made of black metal is held with a grip wrapped in extremely rare, royal dark purple pig leather. With a point as sharp as a razor, this weapon could cause its owner's enemies to leak from thousands of holes before they even know what happened. The blade has a broad, curled cross-guard, adding just enough weight to make sure the blade sits firmly in the owner's hand (or wing in Kivuli's case) and protecting those same hands as well. The cross-guard has a jeweled phoenix tail on each side, this weapon was clearly a custom order, probably by an important figure.

Before Yukan could interrogate Kivuli about this sword and where it came from, she charged on the attack once again with her new weapon. The sun parrot found himself dodging and backing up to avoid the sharp blade that would cut deep into his flesh otherwise. "Dang it! Where did she get that sword from?!" he thought while performing a back flip to merely avoid the sword's blade - though the flat side rubbed a bit against his beak.

As Yukan jumped away to put some distance between his opponent and himself, Kivuli grinned. "What's wrong? I thought you were kicking my feathered butt?"

Yukan narrowed his eyes. He didn't understand how she summoned a sword, but she didn't know that he too could use some magic. Filling his lungs with fire, he shouted: "PHOENIX BREATH!" before blowing a huge jet of fire toward Kivuli. This last one looked in surprise before getting engulfed in the flames - Yukan's attack was powerful but not enough to leave long-term damage. Kivuli would just need to rest a bit after the match.

"Yes!" Yukan beamed with a grin. "And that's a victory for the sun parrot-WHAT?!"

The clearing smoke left by Yukan's fire attack revealed something he did not expect. A large, circular metallic shield stood where his opponent was when he launched his attack. The steam emanating from the metal indicated that the fire rose its heat level without making it melt for more. The shield got lifted a bit to reveal a pair of purple eyes staring at Yukan with a smirk.

Just as Yukan attempted to figure out what happened, Kivuli charged at him and slammed the back of her shield straight into his jaw, ringing a disturbing cracking noise, and bringing a huge feeling of pain into the sun parrot's bones. The impact sent him flying into the room's wall, hurting his shoulder, and making him land with a thud.

"Darn it..." As Yukan groaned in pain and attempted to stand up, he got interrupted by the sharp tip of a blade appearing right in front of his neck. Kivuli looked down at him with her purple eyes, holding her sword toward Yukan and letting her shield rest on her side.

"It's over, you lost," she simply said.

As much as Yukan wanted to set his fist on fire and throw it at the martial eagle... he knew that would lead him nowhere except the infirmary. If he tried anything, Kivuli would just thrust her sword and give him a non-lethal but still painful wound. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he rose his wings. "Alright, I concede."

Kivuli smiled and pulled her sword away from the sun parrot. "Good, I don't like hurting someone unless it's necessary."

As Yukan stood back up, Master Shujinko clapped from the spot where he sat and smiled. "Good, Yukan! Very good! You have very great skills in battle - of course, there is a lot of room for improvement, but I'd be wrong not to at least give you some praise."

"Thanks, Master." Yukan then looked at Kivuli. "But if you don't mind me asking, where did you get this sword and shield from, Kivuli? You didn't have them with you when our fight started."

The martial eagle shrugged. "It's my magical skill called "The Armory". It allows me to stock three types of weapons - the close range weapon, the defense weapon, and the long range weapon - into a magical room where I can take them in and out whenever I want to." To prove her point, Kivuli summoned the same glowing purple seal as before and made her sword disappear into it. "It gives me a big advantage in battle." She summoned another seal and pulled her shield into it before making both of them disappear.

Yukan blinked his eyes. This girl could summon weapons from out of nowhere whenever she wanted to - like in the middle of a battle? Wow! And he who thought that his fire powers were special...

Master Shujinko then came beside Yukan to put a hand on his leg (since he couldn't really reach his shoulder). "The students of this academy are all very special, young Yukan. Not because of their powers or their force... but because they are all members of the family for me." He gave a soft smile to the sun parrot. "You will be no different from this. Do you want to train a little more?"

Yukan stared at the little frog... before smiling. "Sure, I'm always up for a good training!"

* * *

Meanwhile, very far from the Frog Dojo, and in the frozen mountains a few days away from the city, proudly stood the Chor-Ghom Prison. Built over 1000 years ago, Chor-Ghom became the most famous prison in China for holding the most dangerous and ferocious criminals the country has ever known. The number of outlaws who managed to escape it became the stuff of legends. After all, the guards of this prison - the Anvil of Heaven - followed the hardest military training the Imperial Army could offer and spent almost all of their life for the sole purpose of stopping powerful monsters or die trying.

So nobody would believe that a lonely falcon wearing yellow robes could walk in the prison's lower levels with a trail of defeated and even killed guards in his pathway. The falcon in question stepped toward a cell room plunged in the dark for the small light torch hanging on the wall did not bring much light.

He reached his wing into a fist to gently bang against the cell bars. "Hello, anyone there?"

A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the darkness, staring with dread toward the newcomer. "What are you doing here?" asked a threatening voice.

"What? I can't come and say hi to an old friend?" the falcon asked with a chuckle. Lowering his hoodie, he revealed himself to be the falcon with whom Yukan chatted at the noodle bar when he first arrived in the Valley of Peace.

The glowing yellow eyes widened a little bit. The figure stood up and walked out of the darkness to reveal himself. A male deer with dark brown fur and a white underbelly and facial expression. His muscled upper body wasn't covered by anything and showcased scars of ancient battles. His pants were dark green and held in place by a silver belt with knee-length boots covering his feet. Additional clothing included black fingerless gloves on his hooves and a traditional dark green Mongolian hat on his head with holes for his woods to come out on both sides.

"Xerxes... I was not expecting to ever see you again," the deer said with looking at the falcon.

"I missed you too, Genghis," the falcon named Xerxes said with a chuckle. "But you are right, there IS a special reason I wanted to see you. It's about my big plan I talked with you about quite a while back."

Genghis looked slightly surprised. "So you finally decided to get into action?" He then chuckled a bit. "I'm surprised. I thought you gave up on it after so much time."

"Nope. And I want you to help me with it." Xerxes reached into his robe and took something out of it. A beautiful gaius sword with an handle crafted in metal and a blade crafted in pure bronze. Small black Chinese characters decorated both sides of the blade which reflected the small light of the torches. "And as a proof of my honesty, I brought a special gift."

Genghis stared at the sword and looked a bit surprised. "... The famous Goujian Sword, huh?" His lips then twisted into a grin. "You know the way to my heart, Xerxes..."

"Would you like to test it?" Xerxes turned his head toward the way he came from as many more guards headed their way. "... Right now?"

_"The Chor-Ghom Prison was thought to be impenetrable. And yet, this very night, one falcon managed to not only enter by himself, but leave with one mate. Somehow, the Anvil of Heaven failed to stop this simple duo. The two left a massive carnage behind them. This event will later be known as the "Red Rains of Chor-Ghom"..."_

**A lot of things have happened in this chapter, right? We got a glimpse of a potential threat at the start, Yukan got his first training with Master Shujinko, we got to see Kivuli's skills and powers, and even a small prison break scene. I bet you did not think the falcon Yukan met in the first chapter would do such a thing later on, right? As I stated at the start of this fanfic, I like to play with your minds and foreshadow things :)**

**I added a lot of cultural elements in this chapter. If you can point them out, you'll get congratulations from me. And also, I wanna apologize if you find these chapters are uneventful, but I want to build my world and the characters living in it with care and attention before going into big things. Starting by introducing you to the people of the Frog Dojo.**

**As always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	5. The first outlaw

Yukan walked alongside Kodok through the streets of the Valley of Peace's city. Since Master Shujinko did not teach his students on Tuesdays, the sun parrot decided to visit the city and get familiar with his new surroundings. Kodok kindly offered to show the place around to his avian friend. The two spent all morning visiting the city with the frog showing many shops and special places in the city.

"Wow! The Valley of Peace is infamous for being a huge place... but I didn't think it would be THAT huge!" Yukan remarked. "I'm not sure I will manage to move around here with the orientation I have."

"But you're a sun parrot, right? Why don't you just fly around?" Kodok asked while hopping beside his friend.

"I don't like to. I prefer walking."

"Why's that?"

"I just like it, that's all."

"Okay, if you say so," Kodok gave up. "So, you said you are from Japan, right?"

"Yup, the Land of the Rising Sun itself," Yukan confirmed with a nod.

"What's the name of your village?"

Yukan's emerald green eyes widened a bit at this question and he looked around. "Oh, huh...Riho! My village is called Riho. It's a small village; you must not have heard of it."

The yellow and black frog gave a curious look at how his avian friend responded, almost as if he wanted to avoid the question. However, before he could go on further on this subject, he heard what sounded like cheers and turned his head. "Hey!" Kodok hopped away out of nowhere, getting a puzzled look from Yukan.

"What's with him?"

He then noticed that Kodok rushed toward a spot of the street where two young blue frogs were chatting with a rhino guard - like the ones from Chor-ghom and the Imperial Army. Both of the blue frogs wore green pants and open vest with the younger one of the two looking happy.

"Yay!" Yukan heard him cheering upon coming closer.

"Thank you!" the older one also said with joy in his tone.

"Please! It's nothing," the rhino guard said with a chuckle.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Kodok asked them.

The two blue frogs turned to look at him. "Oh, hello, Kodok! How are you doing?" the oldest asked.

"Yeah; we haven't seen you in five weeks!" the younger said.

"Huh, you know these guys, Kodok?" Yukan asked.

"Yup. This is Milo and Kido, they are brothers," Kodok replied with pointing at the youngest and oldest blue frog respectively. "They are friends of I made back in my swamp. They sometimes come here to visit the city and me too of course." He then turned to the two brothers. "Guys, this is Yukan Tori, the new member of the Frog Dojo."

"Hi, Yukan!" Milo cheerfully said.

"Nice to meet ya," Kido said, smiling.

"Nice to meet you too," the sun parrot replied before looking at the rhino. "And who's that?"

"Oh, sorry for not introducing myself earlier," the rhino politely said. "My name is Akio, Lieutenant of the Imperial Army. I am honored to meet a new Kung Fu Master in our city," he added with bowing.

"So, what were you cheering about earlier?" Kodok asked.

"Well, two days ago, Milo and I went to have a walk along the ravine outside the city. However, we realized after that day that we lost a very precious item there," Kido explained, looking down sadly. "This item is a gem stone given to us by our mother. It is very important to us." He then smiled. "But the lieutenant offered to help us find it!"

"Really?" Kodok turned to look at the rhino. "That's really nice of you, Lieutenant!"

The rhino chuckled a bit and did a shove of his hand. "Oh please! It's nothing. I can't just turn around from kids who need help with a blind eye." He then looked at the two blue frog siblings. "We should be going now if we want to find your gem before nightfall."

"Good idea!" Kido said. He turned toward Yukan and Kodok. "Goodbye, guys! See you later!" After he said that, he walked away in the street with his little brother and the lieutenant. They headed toward the path leading outside the city.

"Goodbye! Good luck with finding your gem, guys!" Kodok called with waving at them. "This lieutenant guy sounds really nice! I'm sure they will find their gem in no time." He then turned toward Yukan... whose face looked anormally serious and worried. "Huh, is there a problem, Yukan?"

"...I don't feel this rhino guy."

"Huh?" Kodok asked. "What are you talking about? What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know. Something felt... off about him."

"What do you mean, something off?" Kodok asked with a confused look. "Lieutenant Akio sounds look a very nice person; he's willing to take the time to help kids when he must have plenty of work on his shoulders already." He then smiled and chuckled a bit. "You must just be tired from the long visit I gave you. How about we go back to the Dojo and get ourselves a little mission?"

* * *

When Yukan and Kodok returned to the Frog Dojo, they found the building alive with all the members awake and doing their activities of the day. Some were having fun together in the kitchen with good food and drinks, relaxing in the living room, or just searching for jobs on the mission panel. Its toward this last one that the duo headed upon arriving.

"Alright, let's see what we should take," Yukan mumbled with arriving before the board and looking at all the papers. "I hope to find a more challenging one than the one I had with Shining Eagle the other day."

"Why don't you look on the other side?" Kodok suggested. "This side of the board holds papers of outlaws that we can try to arrest for more money than what we could get from doing traditional you really want something challenging, I recommend going there."

"Okay," Yukan said as he followed his amphibian friend and went to the other side of the job board. This one displayed papers with images of animals with pretty intimidating looks and the reward number on the bottom. "Let's go for the biggest one of the board."

"What's up, guys?"

Yukan turned his head to see Mei Ling heading their way. The golden cat's features were just as bright as her smile. Yukan loved her cheerful aura that came with her wherever she went. He did not interact that much with her since the day he arrived at the Frog Dojo, but he could tell people loved her by the way the others like Shining Eagle and Kodok talked about her.

"Hey, Mei Ling," Yukan said. "Kodok and I were going to take an outlaw on the mission panel to arrest and get some money."

"Are you sure you feel ready for the outlaws?" the golden cat asked. "Usually, newcomers take their time before getting there. You need a good level of fighting skills to face dangerous criminals."

Yukan gave her a half-insulted half-amused look. "Why? Are you insinuating that I'm not strong enough to take on a criminal by myself?"

"Maaaaybe," Mei Ling replied with rolling her eyes. "You did not reply my demand to step up in the fighting zone with me when you first came, remember? So I have no idea how strong you are."

The sun parrot chuckled a bit. "Maybe I could give it a try before we go on our mission, right, Kodok?" However, he received no answer to his question. "Kodok?"

Yukan turned around and saw his yellow and black frog friend in a weird position. His eyes were wide open and as round as yuan coins with his jaw hanging open and gaping. It looked as if he saw a ghost with the pale expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Kodok?" Yukan asked his amphibian friend.

Kodok rose his trembling finger to point at the board. "L-Look, Yukan... in the middle of the board..." Yukan followed his friend's instructions... and also widened his eyes.

In the middle of the outlaws board stood on display the wanted poster of a familiar figure. A male rhino looking like those in the Imperial Army with a charming smile. His name being written black on white underneath the image: "AKIO". And right beneath this name, the reward: "500 yuan".

No doubt; the same rhino they MET earlier.

"What's wrong, guys?" Mei Ling asked, not understanding why her two friends looked so shocked.

"CRAP!" Kodok suddenly exclaimed, causing most of the Dojo members to turn and look at him. "THAT'S THE GUY WE MET EARLIER! IF MILO AND KIDO ARE ALONE WITH HIM, THEY COULD BE IN GRAVE DANGER!" He turned to give a serious look to Yukan. "WE HAVE TO GO NOW, YUKAN!"

The sun parrot nodded and turned to his golden cat friend. "Mei Ling, tell everyone that Kodok and I went to the ravine outside the city to arrest Akio!"

Right after saying this, Yukan turned around and rushed out of the Dojo alongside Kodok who hopped on his four limbs. Mei Ling just stood there, blinking her eyes. "Did he just ran away from my challenge again?"

* * *

The ravine outside the Valley of Peace is renewed for its largeness and depth... and with reason. Unless you're an avian, falling off the edge of the ravine means certain death. The only reliable resource in this area is the long river at the bottom of the ravine which can only be accessed by flying or walking down along the long path on the ravine walls. Only, to success the second way, one needs a good orientation sense for the paths are very tricky and it is easy to get lost while trying to get out.

Upon arriving on the edge of the ravine, Yukan and Kodok were met by a violent wind that almost made them lose their balance. Upon looking down, Kodok felt dizzy and immediately stepped back. "Let's not fall down in there, shall we?"

"Yup!" Yukan said with a nod.

Kodok then looked to their left and noticed a blue figure sitting near a large rock. "Hey! That's Kido!" Wasting no time, the two friends rushed over to the blue frog who looked panicked. "Kido, what's wrong? Where are Milo and Akio?!"

Kido's face dripped with sweat as he looked everywhere. "Yes... about them...! After we left, we all went looking for our lost gem together. But I ended up all alone while Milo went somewhere with Mr. Akio. I called and called! But they didn't come back! I'm starting to get scared..."

Yukan and Kodok exchanged worried glances. "Which way did they go?" the parrot asked in a hurried tone.

"Th-That way!" Kido replied with pointing at a cave entrance that most likely led into the ravine wall's path.

"Let's go, Yukan. Quick!" kodok said with a serious look before hopping into the cave.

"Stay here, Kido; we'll be back with your brother soon!" Yukan said before running after his amphibian friend.

As the two Kung Fu masters departed, Kido sighed in fear. "Please, be safe, Milo..."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ravine wall's path, Milo walked alongside Akio. They have been separated from Kido quite a while ago and, while Milo hoped his brother made it fine, he still felt secure to be with Mr. Akio. After all, a lieutenant from the Imperial Army could protect him from any danger, right?

Soon, the duo arrived in a large cave room with a stone wall preventing them from going any further. "Oh, a dead end," Milo said. He gave a look around. "I can't see my lost gem anywhere. I wonder where it could be?"

"Sorry, kid. Your lost item is not here for sure," Akio responded with a somewhat happy and calm look.

"Huh?" Milo said with a confused look. He then looked around and realized something. "Wait, where's my big brother? Did he get lost?"

Akio chuckled a bit at this. "I'm sorry... but your big brother won't be coming. I'll let you in on a little secret. This was all a trick."

Milo's round eyes widened in surprise. "H-Huh?!"

Akio leaned toward Milo, his huge figure towering over the small blue frog. "Let me ask you a question. Do you know how much a kid is worth on the black market?"

"N-No..." Milo's body started trembling, tears coming up in the corner of his eyes.

"Quite a fortune - enough so that I will be able to travel far away from here with peace in my mind."

Milo started crying, tears coming out on his cheeks. "S-Somebody! Help!"

"HEY! STOP IT RIGHT THERE!"

Akio froze upon hearing that loud voice resonating through the cave room. Turning around, his brown eyes widened into a frown upon seeing the avian and amphibian he met earlier in the city. "Y-You?! How did you find us?!"

"We saw your wanted poster on our Dojo's outlaw board, Akio!" Yukan said with a glare.

"Crap...," the rhino mumbled to himself with rubbing his forehead. "I hoped to be able to finish my job in this city before my research posters could reach it. It's gonna be more difficult now." He then pulled his hand away and looked at the two friends with a smirk. "But you're right, I'm an outlaw with a bounty on my head. I'm wanted for stealing an Imperial Army uniform and making myself pass for one of them to go around and commit all the crimes I want with no trouble."

"How can you do such a thing?!" Kodok asked. "And what does Milo and Kido have to do with this?"

Akio grinned. "When I heard that they have a precious gem in their possession, I used my costume to make them think I was there to help them. I planned to steal their gem and sell it for a good fortune along with this kid for some extra money. We're never too careful." The rhino then gave a glare. "But now that you found me, I have no choice but to take you out and leave this city with only the kid."

"As if we'd let you!" Yukan declared with a glare. "Milo, step away from him! We're gonna take him out!" The terrified frog kid nodded and backed away to the far end of the room. Yukan took his Southern Praying Mantis stance, ready to take this impostor down. "I'll make you regret even considering laying a hand on these kids!"

The sun parrot filled his lungs with energy before launching his attack. "PHOENIX BREATH!" The jet of fire came out of Yukan's beak and flew toward Akoni, ready to burn him down.

However, Akio did not seem intimidated the least and thrust his fists forward with strength. A gust of wind came out of nowhere and stopped the fire jet until it ended in a small gust of hot air.

"What?! What happened?!" Yukan asked in shock.

"So you have powers of fire? This is nice. Unfortunately for you...," Akio created gusts of wind around his fists, "... I have powers of wind!"

Powers of wind? Not good! Fire can blow fire out and rend any use of it useless! But that didn't mean Yukan could not win this fight! He set his fist on fire and charged toward the rhino. "ROARING FIST!"

Unfortunately, Yukan failed to be fast enough; Akio thrust a fist forward to send a jet of wind. The invisible attack collided with the sun parrot, sending him flying to where he came from and into the room's wall. His back made a violent impact against the hard surface and he landed on his stomach with a thud.

"Dang it..." Yukan clutched his ribs in pain before getting up. The rhino approached him, his fists ready to send another wind attack. The sun parrot realized with humor that this situation was similar to the end of his fight with Kivuli.

"Bye-bye, fire bird!"

"Hey!"

Akio stopped his attack and turned around. Kodok held a slingshot made of wood in his hand and pulled the charged string back with the other, aiming it at his enemy. "Excuse me, dude, but it's not really kind to forget you have TWO enemies." He then aimed. "Sticky Bill!"

Releasing the string, Kodok sent a little bill flying right into Akio's face. The item exploded upon impact and released some sort of green goo that covered all the rhino's face. His groanings were muffled as he tried to rip the substance off his face with his hands, but in vain.

"Yukan! Now!" Kodok called.

Ignoring the pain for now, Yukan stood up and charged toward Akio after setting his fist on fire once more. By the time he removed the goo from his face, it was too late as the sun parrot arrived to close for him to counter attack. "ROARING FIST!"

Yukan planted his burning fire straight into Akio's face, pulling all of his strength behind the attack, and sending the rhino flying across the cave room, all the way into the stone wall. His head collided into it, creating a cracking noise (Yukan couldn't tell if it was the wall or Akio's head) before falling on the ground, unconscious.

"Game over...," Yukan mumbled as he pulled the fire off his fist.

With Akio out, Kodok turned his attention to Milo, rushing to the young blue frog and kneeling before him. "Milo, are you fine? You're not hurt anywhere?"

"No, I'm okay. He didn't do anything to me," the little frog responded.

"Phew! Well, that's a relief; I was afraid we would be arriving too late."

"MILO!"

Everybody turned to see another blue frog standing at the entrance of the cave room. Sweat covered all of Kido's body and the deep pants he took indicated he ran a lot to get here. However, he did not care and made his way toward his younger brother. "Milo!"

"Kido! Big brother!" Milo rushed right into his big brother's arms for a hug. "Akio was a bad guy! That was so scary!"

"It's okay, Milo. It's over now," Kido whispered in a soft tone with hugging his little brother. After a few seconds have passed, he looked up at the two Kung Fu masters who saved them. "Thank you for saving my little brother, Kodok. You too, Yukan Tori."

Yukan smiled. Seeing the young Milo save and sound into his big brother's arms made him feel happy on the inside. "No problem, guys. We still have some time before the end of the day; let's look around for your gem."

**Another pretty uneventful chapter, was it? Yeah. I mostly wanted to start the friendship between Yukan and Kodok. And also showcase what the black and yellow frog could do. So, you know that he's fighting using a slingshot now.**

**I've been following the villain of the week formula so far, but I'm gonna try to make things a bit more impactful starting the next chapter. And by the way, this chapter was inspired by an act in "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer Of The Sky". This is one of my most favorite childhood games - back when I owned a Nitendo DS. As always, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	6. A mysterious call for help

**Author's note: Finally, the time has come, my friends. After five chapters using the villain of the week formula, we are going to start a true arc! One where the stakes are higher and where our heroes will face true challenges.**

"WHAT?!"

"Don't scream so loud, Yukan!" Kodok complained with covering his ears.

"Don't scream so loud?! How am I supposed to not scream so loud?!" the sun parrot shouted back in indignation. "The reward for capturing this impostor was 3000 yuan! And what did Master Shujinko left to us? 300! 300 freaking yuan for the criminal that WE stopped!"

Kodok just shrugged with a smile. "What do you want? No Dojo is perfect; not even in the Valley of Peace." He then turned toward the entrance door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a few of my friends at a juice bar. See ya later, Yukan!"

"Yeah, see ya," the sun parrot mumbled as his frog friend hopped out of the Dojo. He then stared down at the bag of yuan coins he ended up with. "Only 150 yuan... Guess it could be worse." He then yawned. After spending all morning time visiting the city and saving kids, he could use a little nap. Maybe he could get another job to do after dinner time?

Just as the young sun parrot walked up the stairs toward his bedroom, he noticed someone rushing inside the building through an open window - a male goose carrying a mail bag on his side. No doubt; a messenger from the Kung Fu Express, the message delivery system charged to deliver everything message-like across China.

During Kodok's visit of the city earlier that morning, they passed by one of the Kung Fu Express' buildings and he told him everything: these guys took care of delivering all the messages and newspapers across the country. You want to send an invitation to a friend? Kung Fu Express. A new criminal appears and the Empire wants his/her head? Kung Fu Express. An urgent warning about an incoming invasion? Again and always the Kung Fu Express.

And this messenger seemed to be coming for a crime signalisation as he rushed over to the mission board and plunged a wing into his bag. After a few seconds of rambling around, he pulled a paper out of it and wasted no time in planting it on the first free spot he found over the board. A detail caught Yukan's attention. This poster looked bigger than all the others with big words written all over it.

Curiosity being too strong for the sun parrot, he decided to go give it a look before his nap.

Going down from the second floor, Yukan went to the board and checked this new mission paper. However... he didn't understand anything about it.

"Evergreen Village

Send five masters

23,5 14,55,4 8,5,12,16"

Yukan did not understand what this message was supposed to be mean. Why would the Evergreen Village need five masters? And what was this series of numbers at the bottom of the paper? Another disturbing detail Yukan noticed: the writing made it look like the owner of this message wrote this in a hurry. What did this mean?

"Something tells me there's a big problem going on in Evergreen Village," Yukan mumbled to himself before taking the paper off the board with his wing. Looking around, he realized that no one else stood inside the Dojo except him. Alright, he would take this mission if the situation called for it so bad to the point the writer couldn't send a clearer message. But first, he needed to understand what the numbers meant.

"I'll go ask Kodok; surely he can understand what this means."

* * *

After leaving the Dojo, Yukan found himself walking in the city's streets, searching for the juice bar Kodok mentioned earlier. Despite the visit he got from his friend this morning, the sun parrot found himself lost. What? You didn't expect him to memorise such a big city in one day, did you? Sorry, but Yukan is not that smart.

"Darn it! Where did he go?" Yukan mumbled to himself. He should've asked Kodok which juice bar he wanted to go to before going to take a nap.

However, it seemed fate decided to be on Yukan's for the young avian soon spotted the amphibian he looked for outside some sort of restaurant. He sat at a table with a smoothie and three other animals accompanied him. Upon coming closer, Yukan quickly recognized all three of them: Shining Eagle, Kivuli the martial eagle, and Mei Ling the golden cat who wanted to fight him. They all seemed to have a good time - except Kivuli who just sat back, took sips of her smoothie, and didn't talk much.

A small feeling of nostalgia hit Yukan's heart.

The sun parrot made his way over to the table and took time to signal his arrival once he came close enough. "Hey, guys!"

Everybody looked at him and Shining Eagle gave him a cheerful smile. "Yukan! You changed your mind and came to relax with us? That's so cool; Kodok told us how you guys saved that frog kid in the ravine outside the city. You should try their strawberry smoothie; it's delicious."

"Thanks, Shining, but I'm afraid we have something more important on our hands right now."

Mei Ling rose a curious eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

To answer her, Yukan took out the mission paper and pulled it down on the table for everyone to see. "Take a look at this; it arrived on the Dojo's mission board just after Kodok left."

The four friends all looked over at the paper. "Wow, the owner of this message sure must have been in a hurry; everything is written weirdly," Shining Eagle remarked.

"What's this series of numbers at the end of the message?" Kivuli asked with a curious look.

"I have no idea. That's why I came to find Kodok," Yukan explained. "Do you think you can decipher this?"

"Let me see," the black and yellow frog replied with taking the paper and staring at the numbers. After a moment, he snapped his fingers and smiled. "I get it! It's a classic cipher message that agents used in ancient times to send coded messages to their bases without getting caught."

"In normal language please?" Kivuli deadpanned.

"In ancient cipher codes, every number is equivalent to their letter counterpart. For example, 1 equals A, 2 equals B, 3 equals C, and so on." Kodok then looked at the message again and mumbled inaudible words before looking up at his friends again. "So, if my theory is right, this message translates to: "We need help"."

Yukan blinked his eyes. "So... the Evergreen Village is asking for help from five masters? But why not just asking it normally?"

"I'm not sure," Kodok replied and looked at the paper again. "But judging by the rushed writing and the fact that they used a coded message in the last sentence, I think something prevented them from calling for help sooner and they were afraid of being caught."

"It's that bad?" Yukan then gave a serious look. "Alright then, I don't know what kind of trouble they are in, but I will answer their call for help!"

"Wait, Yukan!" Shining Eagle said. "The message called help from FIVE masters. If the situation is that bad, you can't take this mission on your own."

Kodok then stood up, crossing his arms and smiling. "At least, not without your friends. We got your back."

"You want to join me on this mission?" Yukan asked.

"Of course!" Mei Ling beamed with throwing a fist in the air. "We are the masters of the Frog Dojo, and as such, we need to stick together! Right, Kivuli?"

"Yeah," the martial eagle simply replied. "I must admit it's been a while since I had a good exciting mission. Count me in."

Yukan stared at his four friends. He didn't find himself into a big mission with so many friends in a long time. Of course, he did team up with Shining Eagle and Kodok recently, but those were just little jobs. Taking on a huge mission with their lives at risk couldn't be described as the same thing. And the last time Yukan pulled his trust in someone...

No! This was different! Yukan could trust these guys for this mission; they were his friends. So far, they did not give him any reason to distrust them. "Alright then, let's go to Evergreen Village and help them with whatever's going on!"

"Well said, buddy!" Shining Eagle beamed.

"... So, how far is Evergreen Village?"

Everybody fell flat on their face at the sun parrot's question. Kivuli got back up first and rushed into his face. "You mean you planned to take on a mission without even knowing where to go?!"

"Hey, I'm still new here!" Yukan defended himself.

"It's not super-close, but not too far either," Kodok said after getting back up. "If we leave in one hour, we should arrive to the village tomorrow in the afternoon."

"Excellent. Let's go get ready then," Yukan said.

**This new arc is on. Yukan will go on his first big mission with Shining Eagle, Kivuli, Kodok, and Mei Ling at his sides. I hope this first major arc will be good enough. What is going on at the Evergreen Village? Will the Frog Dojo's masters be up to the task? You will find this throughout the next chapters.**

**For those of you who are sad that not official characters from Kung Fu Panda (except Mei Ling), do not worry; I'm planning on making Po, the Furious Five, Master Shifu, and many others appear in this fanfic. I am a Kung Fu Panda fan too after all. Except that, may the gods watch over you all.**


	7. Evergreen Village

After agreeing to answer the mysterious help call, the five masters from the Frog Dojo returned to their home to pack up their things. Once they were done, they departed from the Valley of Peace and, under Kodok's lead, took the direction toward the Evergreen Village. The group walked (or flew in Shining Eagle and Kivuli's case) for the rest of the day before stopping on the side of a road to set up their camp and sleep for the night. Mei Ling made sure everyone woke up at dawn by pouncing on them like a cat. While Yukan, Kodok, and Shining found it amusing, Kivuli answered with screams of anger and indignation.

Once they settled this argument, the group walked on the road again. They traveled nonstop for many hours. Yukan started getting tired of it. "It's too far! Couldn't we just get there by train or something?"

"I told you Evergreen Village is far from our Dojo," Kodok called over his shoulder while walking ahead of the group, the map of the region in his hands. "Besides, why don't you fly above the group like Kivuli and Shining Eagle? It'd be less tiring for a sun parrot like you."

"I ALREADY TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! I PREFER WALKING!" he impatiently replied.

"Okay, okay, no need to break out like this..."

Mei Ling looked at the green landscape around them - not anything noteworthy except the grass and occasional tree. She rested her head with her paws and looked up at the clear sky. "It's been a very long time since we've been in a calm place like this. Not a single car, shop, or anything modern in miles. It feels good to sometimes get away from the city's excitation."

Kivuli decided to fly down close enough so that the golden cat could hear her. "Don't forget that we're not out here to relax, Mei Ling; we have a mission to accomplish." The martial eagle then frowned a little bit. "A mission that we know almost nothing about."

"Guys, look!" Shining Eagle suddenly called.

The group arrived before what appeared to be a large stone wall stretching far away and curving into a square shape. In the middle of the stone wall at the end of the road, two large buffalo guards armed with spears standing on either side of a metal gate. They held an aggressive-looking position, unlike other guards Yukan and his friends saw in the city who just looked serious but not aggressive for more. Somehow, Yukan got a feeling that these two guys would not just allow them to enter the village.

"Halt!" the one on the right ordered and rose his spear, just like his partner, upon seeing the five masters arriving. "State your identity and intentions!"

"Huh, hello, gentlemen," Shining Eagle politely said. "We are Kung Fu Masters from the Frog Dojo, and we came to-"

"You are not allowed to pass!" the buffalo rudely and firmly said.

"What?!"

Kivuli gave the guards a unpleasant glare, not liking the way they talked to them. "And why not? Have we committed a code violation or something?"

"No, miss. It's just that we don't want you in the Evergreen Village," the other guard simply replied.

The martial eagle narrowed her eyes. "Well, excuse me, sir, but we are planning to get in this village because we're on official business. So either you kindly let us pass, or we get through by force." The guards were not intimidated by the eagle and rose their spears, ready to fight. Kivuli prepared herself to summon one of her weapons to kick their butt with Yukan setting his fist on fire just behind, ready to back his friend up.

However, before the brawl could erupt, Kodok came between both sides with his arms risen up. "Wait, wait, guys! It's not that bad; our quest in this village did not sound that important anyway. Let's not get ourselves in trouble for so little."

This statement caused the frog's friends to all look at him in surprise. Why would he say such a thing? They received an important call for help from this village; of course it was important! "Kodok, don't let those guys freak you out-"

"Shut up, dude!" the black and yellow frog interrupted him with a serious look. He grabbed his friend by the wing and started dragging him away. He waved his hand at the two guards while doing this. "Sorry for bothering you, sirs. Have a nice day!"

The two water buffalos withdrew their weapons as Shining Eagle, Kivvuli, and Mei Ling exchanged looks of confusion. Realizing fighting the guards now would be pointless, they followed their two male friends away from the gate until the sun parrot got tired and pushed his wing out of Kodok's hold.

"What the heck is wrong with you, Kodok?!" Yukan screamed in indignation. "They were only two; we could have easily taken them down by ourselves!"

"Calm down, Yukan; I saved us all."

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Think about it; if we had the misfortune of knocking those guards out, then the whole village would see us as hostile intruders and would chase us away before we can even understand what is going on in here," Kodok seriously explained. "If we want to get into the Evergreen Village safely, we must avoid trouble."

"And how are you planning on doing that?" Mei Ling asked.

The frog just grinned. "Watch me..."

* * *

Around twenty minutes after the five masters left, the buffalo guards decided to have a little chat about the subject. "Have you heard those guys? Kung Fu Masters really think they can go wherever they want, whenever they want just because of their position in society."

"Yeah!" the other guard snickered. "If only they knew what clan we are part of; they would turn around faster than-"

"Shut up! Someone could hear you!"

"Oh yeah, sorry."

BOOM!

The two guards jumped in fear upon hearing the explosion noise echoing through the forest. They almost immediately turned toward the direction it came from... and saw black smoke coming from behind a large bush of trees. "Fire!" they shouted at unison. "Those must be bandits trying to destroy our natural supplies for the village! Let's go!"

The two ignored that while they ran toward the site of the explosion, ready to face a group of armed bandits, five figures were hiding in a large bush and chuckled silently. "I can't believe they fell for it!" Mei Ling mused to herself.

"I'd pay a lot of money to see their faces when they realize that this bomb is just an artificial one!" Kodok said with chuckling. "That must be priceless!"

"We'll think about that later. For now, let's just get into the village before the guards come back," Yukan mumbled to his friends.

Everyone agreed to this and walked through the entrance gate. With no more guard to keep it, the five masters made it through easily. However, they couldn't have expected what awaited them on the other side of this gate. It didn't seem like things were going very well... at all. The villagers - all of them being pigs - looked sad and depressed. Enough to make the five young masters feel uncomfortable.

Taking time to examine the surroundings, they could see the villagers standing and poorly taken care of houses with both kids and their parents looking unhappy. This sight enough felt enough for Yukan's heart to twitch a bit.

"Man, this place doesn't look cheerful at all," Shining Eagle remarked with a frown. After spending so much in the always happy Valley of Peace, it felt like a huge change of atmosphere for the golden eagle.

"What can possibly make them so depressed?" Kivuli asked, looking around unpleasantly.

"We'll know once we learn who sent this call for help and why," Yukan said. "Come on; let's go find the leader of this village already."

THUMP!

The five masters stopped upon hearing the sound of someone falling onto the ground and turned around. A little pig girl wearing green robes and a jeweled crown on her head stumbled along with three large boxes she carried onto her back. Her clothes were torn up and she looked very tired. It looked like she didn't stop working for days on. She somehow found the strength to push herself off the floor with a sad look on her face.

"Hey!" Yukan wasted no time rushing at the girl's side and kneeled beside her. "Are you alright? What's the idea of carrying three huge boxes on your own?"

The pig girl just stared at the sun parrot for a moment before fighting to stand up. Though no doubt sustained that she was close to fall down. "I-I'm okay... I must... carry them away..."

"No gonna happen, kid," Kivuli said and grabbed one of the boxes, pulling it on her back. "Where do you want us to pull them?"

The young pig girl blinked her eyes a few times before pointing to a pile of boxes next to one of the houses. Nodding, Kivuli went to place the first box while Mei Ling and Yukan took care of the second and third one respectively.

"Now that we're done with this, I think we should take you to a hospital," Kodok said.

"A-A hospital?"

"Yeah. No offense sweetie, but you look like you're in a pretty terrible shape," Mei Ling said.

However, the pig girl pushed herself away from the warriors and looked serious. "I'm sorry, but.. I really don't have time for it. There's plenty of work awaiting me. Thanks for your help, but I gotta go now."

"But you-" However, the kid walked out of view before Mei Ling could finish her sentence. She blinked her eyes and scratched the back of her head. "Well... that was strange."

"I wonder why she refuses our help so stubbornly," Kivuli said with rising an eyebrow. "She really seemed out of energy."

"And that's not all," Yukan said, causing everyone to turn toward him. "Have you noticed her dress? This is the kind of robes only nobles can afford."

Shining Eagle looked in surprise. "That's true! But... if she's a noble, why would she work that much? Usually, peoples of her class have servants to do these jobs for her."

Yukan narrowed his eyes. "I don't know, Shining... but we're gonna find out..."


	8. The truth about the Evergreen Village

**Author's note: Another chapter updated so soon after the other? Well, what can I say, I feel inspired for this story these times. I like when it happens :)**

After sneaking into Evergreen Village under the guards' nose thanks to Kodok's intelligence and meeting a young pig girl tired from a lot of work, the five masters of the Frog Dojo searched for a little inn. in the village where they could rest for the night. They ended up finding one - it looked terrible and mistreated, but still better than sleeping outside, right? After they gave him the money, the owner led them to a pathetic room with only two beds, meaning they would need to either share or sleep on the floor.

"Great, we're sleeping in a dirty room for tonight," Yukan scoffed in an annoyed tone.

"I'm sure we can get comfy if we get ourselves in the right positions," Mei Ling positively said. She then wrapped her arms around one of Kivuli's wings, pulling her closer. "I'm sharing one bed with Kivuli!"

"Huh... Why do you want to sleep with me in particular?" the martial eagle asked, her purple eyes looking around with uncertainty.

"Because you're the only one I didn't get the chance to sleep with in the Dojo so far - except Yukan of course." The golden cat noticed that the three others looked at her with confused looks. "No, it's not like that; I just like to keep people comfortable at night is all."

"Oh, okay," Yukan said, brushing the weird thoughts out of his mind.

"Do you want to sleep with me, Yukan?" Shining Eagle offered with a smile.

This question caused the sun parrot to blush a bit - thought no one could see through his orange feathers. Sleeping in the same bed as a girl? His gaze briefly zeroed onto the golden eagle's toned stomach and chest... He quickly shook his head. "Huh... No thanks. You can have the bed for yourself or share it with someone else; I'm used to sleeping on the floor anyways."

"Nonsense!" Shining Eagle protested. "You can't just sleep down like this! You will at the very least take a blanket and pillow or I will force you on the bed."

Yukan blinked his eyes at Shining Eagle's firmness. "Huh... okay, if you insist."

They then heard the sound of their door opening and saw their black and yellow frog about to step out of their room. "Where are you going, Kodok? Don't you wanna relax?" Mei Ling asked him.

"I sure do, but unlike you guys, I need to stretch my legs a little bit before going to bed or otherwise, I'll have too much energy and won't be able to sleep. I won't be long, don't worry. See ya later!"

* * *

After leaving the inn, Kodok started his relaxing walk by hopping everywhere like a frog. Night time fell and the sky went from a calm and peaceful blue to a dark and sinister black. The air became much fresher with a cool breeze that rustled in the leaves of the trees all around and inside the Evergreen Village. While hopping, Kodok noticed that the streets were more empty than before - the villagers must have returned to their home at this hour. This helped reduce the depressing atmosphere a bit.

"Hey, while I'm here, how about I stop on one of these rooftops to see the larger state of the village?" the frog thought to himself as he searched for the highest building he could find. Since the village lacked any skyscraper, he stopped on the highest house he could find (which he couldn't qualify as very tall) and started looking around the village illuminated by lanterns. A quick glance and Kodok deduced things weren't that different from watching things down below.

"YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!"

The frog jumped in surprise at this aggressive down coming from down below. What was that? He hopped down on another rooftop down below in the direction of the scream he heard. Upon landing, he heard confusion in the street down below, as if a fight was occurring. And upon giving a look over the edge, he realized it wasn't far from the truth.

A water buffalo guard held a male pig by the neck, lifting him over the ground with one paw while other pigs looked at the scene with scared expressions. Thought they were nothing compared to the expression of the pig victim who looked ready to pee at any time. "Please! I didn't mean it! It was an accident!" he begged.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?!" the buffalo raged, pulling the scared pig closer to his face. "I know how you darn pigs are not happy that our clan is occupying your village. You dropped your food on me for revenge!" he said with showing his clothes that were indeed covered of scrambled food.

"I didn't mean to! I swear that I have no problem with your clan being-"

"SHUT UP!" the buffalo spat in his face. "I think it is time we make a demonstration of why we are the strong clan while you are the weak ones!" He rose his fist in the air, making the poor pig cover his face in fear as did the other around him while others shouted begs for him to stop.

The jerk did not know that a Kung Fu master watched all this. Kodok's instincts kicked in and he grabbed his slingshot, charged a bill, and shot it in a split-second. His little metal ball flew through the air at incredible speed and ended its course right into the buffalo's face. The impact made it explode with the same goo he used against Akio. The evil buffalo guy dropped his victim on the ground, screaming in pain.

"Get away from here! Quick!" Kodok screamed at the pig who tried to understand what happened. He answered by not taking the time to thank his savior and fled as if the devil chased after him. As for Kodok, he managed to hide behind the rooftop just as the guard removed the goo from his face.

"WHO IS THE BASTARD WHO THREW THIS AT ME?!" he shouted in rage. When he received no response, his foot slammed hard onto the ground and he snorted. "If you can hear me, I'm gonna find and tear you to pieces!"

This threat caused Kodok to gulp. Even if the buffalo didn't spotted him and left in rage, his poor frog heart still beat a thousand miles a minute. "Better go back home before I get discovered..."

* * *

"Really? What a jerk!" Shining Eagle said with an angry look as she walked.

After saving the innocent pig, Kodok returned to the inn to find the others already sleeping. He did the same and waited the next morning before sharing his experience with them. Needless to say, the four masters were shocked to hear that one of the guards threatened one of the villagers like this for something as stupid as dropping groceries on him.

"Okay, I'm starting to seriously think something's wrong with this village," Yukan said with a frown. "We need to find out what it is and quick."

"I agree," Mei Ling said with a nod. "I say we all go to the village leader's home and directly ask him." The others nodded, but the golden cat noticed something else before they could depart. "Wait, look!"

Everybody turned around. They were surprised upon seeing a familiar pig girl wearing the same dirty and torn green robes as yesterday lying on her knees and panting. She looked even more tired than the day before - her body dripped with sweat and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Her again?!" Shining Eagle exclaimed. "That must be a joke. She looks even worse than yesterday!" Before anyone could say anything, the golden eagle made her way over to the kid, well-decided to discover why she put herself through so much pain.

Upon sensing someone in front of her, the young pig girl opened her eyes and looked up at Shining Eagle. "Y-You again?"

"Yes, we again," the avian said with a serious look and her wings crossed. "And this time, we won't leave until you give us a good explanation for all this."

The pig girl just stared at them for a few seconds before looking away. "I already told you not to mind about this."

"Well, too bad, we are," Kivuli said. "Can you start by telling us your name? It'd make this conversation easier."

"It's Mei Li."

"Wow, it almost sounds like my own name," Mei Ling noticed with a giggle. "But why are you working so hard? Please, we wanna help you."

The young pig sighed in sadness and defeat. "I do this because it's my job."

"What do you mean, it's your job? You're a noble, right? Shouldn't you let your servants handle it?"

Mei Li started sweating out of nervousness after this question and the others noticed it. The patient, but serious gaze on their faces indicated they would not give up before she explained everything. Sighing in resignation, she stood up and started talking.

"You're right. I am a princess. And due to something that happened between my kingdom and the Qidan Clan... I'm forced to work for them as a slave."

A slave?! Did she say a slave?! One of the few words that were enough to make Yukan's blood boil up? "Wait a sec," Kodok said before Yukan could talk of his indignation. "Did you say the Qidan Clan?"

"Indeed."

"Why? You know them, Kodok?" Shining Eagle asked.

"Course I do. They are one of the most feared clans in the country! A group of buffalo warriors who live to battle and conquer their rivals. their leader named Temutai is said to be so strong that even masters like Shujinko would have a hard time against him!"

"They're that bad?" Mei Ling asked with a paw on her chest. "But what are they doing here in the Evergreen Village? And why would they want a poor little girl as their slave?"

Mei Li sighed in sadness. "My kingdom got into conflict with the Qidan Clan. This caused a war... A war during which they crushed us like meaningless bugs. The terms of surrender for us included that we hand them over a princess every few years."

"And that princess is you?!" Shining Eagle exclaimed in shock. Even Kivuli looked indignated by this news. "But that's outrageous! Scandalous!"

"I know," Mei Ligh said and sighed again. "But we can't fight it. The Qidan are too strong for us; they could kill us easily if they want to. That's why I have to fulfill my ten years of service as a slave for them."

"Ten years?!" Mei Ling exclaimed. "And how long did you do this so far?"

"Only five years. I have done half of it... but I don't know if I will survive the other half." Mei Li sobbed a bit. "It's not that I feel ashamed of my suffering for my people... but if I don't do all ten years... they will take away my little sister!"

"But that's horrible!" Kivuli said in anger. "Forcing a kid to work as a slave is already too much, but even going as far as threatening her sister to get what they want...!"

"It was supposed to be only five years," Mei Li mumbled. "When I came to Temutai, I begged him to spare my little sister. He said he would if I also filled the work time reserved for my sister. So this is why my time as a slave is doubled." The little pig started sobbing. "I did each and every of their work and jobs with determination... but it's too hard! Regardless of my will and how much I want to protect my little sister... I won't be able to do this for another five years! I feel my body about to break!" After sobbing for a while, letting her tears drop on the ground, Mei Li rose her head to look up at Yukan.

"Please. Help me..."

She didn't need to say anymore. Those three words... and those hurt, crying eyes... they pierced right through Yukan's heart and soul. He felt a fire burning inside him. Not like the fire he used in combat... but a fire boiling in his whole body, mixing rage and determination. His heartbeat rose its pace. Nothing else mattered but the call for help from Mei Li. A call he would answer to...

Removing his blue jacket, Yukan kneeled down and placed it onto the young pig's back for comfort. The young girl did not expect this - warmness coming out of nowhere. She rose her gaze to see the sun parrot standing up again and turning around with a serious look. After taking a few steps, he filled his lungs with air and shouted as loud as he could:

"OF COURSE I WILL!"

The sound of his scream echoed throughout the whole village. But he did not care if people would think of him as some sort of lunatic or if guards of this darn Quidan Clan came to arrest him. He was angry and needed to take it out. After catching his breath, he turned toward his four comrades.

"Let's go! To stop those stupid Qidan!"

One looked at their sun parrot friend made the masters understand he would not leave until the Quidans were defeated and Mei Li safe. And they totally agreed with this. They could not just go back to the Valley of Peace and pretend nothing happened at the Evergreen Village. And so, Kivuli summoned her Purple Rainmaker sword into her wing, Shining Eagle opened her wings, Mei Ling took out her bo staff to rest it on her shoulder, and Kodok lowered his goggles down on his eyes.

"Yeah!" they all replied at unison.

**The Qidan Clan are the bad guys of this arc. Just like in the episode they appear in Legends Of Awesomeness, they are causing trouble to the people of Mei Li. Only, this time, they won't be faced down by Po, Master Tigress, and Master Mantis... but by the team of the Frog Dojo. And believe me, all the fights we have seen so far were nothing to the confrontation we're about to see!**

**As always, may the gods watch over you all, my friends.**


	9. Charging at the Qidan Clan

The five masters of the Frog Dojo stepped side by side toward their fateful destination: the Evergreen Village's palace. Now that they knew what happened in this village and why its inhabitants were so depressed, they intended to put an end to this injustice, no matter what. Upon seeing their princess crying and hearing Yukan's scream of determination, many of the villagers gathered to see the five walking warriors. They ignored their pleas and call of protestation, too focused on their objective at hand right now.

Before long, they arrived at the palace that while not the biggest building the village still looked worthy of being inhabited by nobles. The stone gate leading inside the main court lay ahead, but the two water buffalos armored with swords and shields did not look ready to let anyone pass. As if that mattered.

"Halt!" one of them said with taking out his sword. "Who goes there? No one is allowed to get beyond this-"

"ROARING FIST!"

Not feeling like wasting his time a second time with gate bullcrap, Yukan set his fist on fire and punched the guard, sending him flying right through the stone gate. It shattered to pieces as the guard landed in the main court. His partner understood that the sun parrot did not come to mess around and decided to run out of fear inside the main court as well. After the fire on Yukan's fist died, he stepped forward with his four friends.

The palace's main court. Green beds of grass covered the spots that were not covered by paths of stone, a beautiful fountain decorated the middle of the stone path leading toward the building, and cute flowers brought a sweet smell in the air. However, all this beauty did not matter for the tens of water buffalo soldiers - all taller and with better weapons that the ones Yukan's group encountered so far - didn't look happy to see intruders stepping in.

Yukan advanced forward with the most serious of glares and stared around at all of them. "Which one of you is Temutai?!"

The buffalos looked surprised by this question and started talking among themselves. "Temutai, that would be me." Yukan shifted his head to the side to see a particular buffalo sitting on what looked like a stone throne chair. Despite being in a sitting position, Yukan could tell this buffalo's size was higher than the others'. The red shirt-like armor on his upper body revealed marks of ancient battles just like the cuts in his brown pants.

"... I see," Yukan mumbled and started walking toward the giant buffalo known as Temutai.

"Who are you, young parrot?" Temutai asked, his glare fixed on the intruder.

"Yukan Tori," he replied without looking intimidated by the Qidan King's glare. "I'm a Kung Fu Master."

"Well, what do you want from me, young Kung Fu Master?"

As Yukan came closer, many guards approached him with the intention of preventing him from touching their beloved king. Yeah, as if he'd let them do. Jumping up, the sun parrot performed a tornado kick that hit the guards across the face, sending them flying away from him. Not giving his enemies time to recover from the shock, Yukan then flapped his wings to push himself toward Temutai and delivered a violent kick across his face that made him fall off his chair.

"HE HIT KING TEMUTAI!" one of the guards exclaimed in shock.

"Not wasting any time, huh?" Kivuli said. She then twisted her black beak into a smile. "I like that."

"It's official; the fight is unavoidable now," Kodok said with a slight gulp.

Temutai growled and pushed himself to a sitting position. He used his big paw to rub the pain off his cheek and glared at the sun parrot responsible for this pain. "You dare raising your hand against me?"

However, Yukan's glare felt more hateful and rage-filled than the king's himself. "HOW DARE YOU TREAT AN INNOCENT CHILD GIRL LIKE THIS?!"

"Huh?" Temutai asked with a confused look.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!" Yukan shouted with all the seriousness in the world. "Mei Li told me everything and I really didn't like what I heard! How could you make a princess, let alone a _child_, a slave for ten years?! She's barely able to stand on her own two feet!"

"This is the agreement her kingdom did with my clan after their defeat, all those years ago. They must send a princess to serve us until she dies; this is our agreement."

"And it's stupid!"

"Hey, it's not my fault they declared war against my clan, all those years ago. They are the only responsible ones for their pain. If she can't take it, then she's just as weak as her people."

Yukan curled his wing into a tight fist as his emerald green eyes burned with rage. "You know they can't fight back against you... They can't resist because they're not strong enough to resist you and your damn soldiers... And you, you're abusing your position to bully them..."

"As I said, it is their only fault. They should not have messed with warriors if-"

"YOU ARE NO WARRIORS!" Yukan cut him off. "YOU ARE BULLIES! And trust me, I hate bullies. Now, you are gonna put an end to this tradition, let Mei Li return to her family, and allow her kingdom to live in peace..."

Temutai crossed his huge arms and rose an eyebrow. "Or else what?"

"Or else...," Yukan rose a fist toward the buffalo, "... I swear I will kill your whole clan to the last so that you will never lay a paw on them again!"

This threat caused all the guards around to widen their eyes. Did this parrot really threaten King Temutai of all people to massacre his clan just for enslaving one girl? Even an idiot would take this as a death wish. Could he really be strong enough to take down a whole clan by himself?

"That's it!" one of the soldiers holding a big sword broke and glared at the sun parrot with anger. "You not only disrespect our king, but you even have the guts to threaten him?! You will pay for your insolence, parrot!" Pushing a battle cry, he jumped toward Yukan with his sword risen above his head, ready to cut him down.

CLANG!

Sparkles flew in the air as the sword did not connect with Yukan but with a shield. A shield tied to the wing of a certain martial eagle. "Mind your own business, you hear me?!" Kivuli mumbled to the buffalo with a glare. "If you wanna fight, I will be your opponent."

Yukan looked at his friend with a smile. "Thanks, Kivuli."

As the martial eagle sent the swordsman buffalo flying back with a good kick in the torso, other soldiers standing on the higher floors of the royal palace charged arrows on their bows and shot them down at the invaders. This forced the masters to perform evading maneuvers - or in Kivuli's case, rise her shield to block them.

"Damn it! Kodok, Shining, take care of these bowmen!" the martial eagle ordered after the first volley ended.

"Right on it!" the eagle and frog replied at unison as the former took off in the air and the latter charged his slingshot with a bill.

Shining became the bowmen's new target and the next volley aimed at her. The golden eagle moved across the skies in graceful patterns as she dodged the projectiles and then dashed down to break through the bowmen like an arrow, knocking them down one by one. Of course, she could not take them all down by herself, which is why Kodok found himself using his slingshot to send bills into the remaining ones. He landed five headshots in a row to knock them out with his precious iron bills.

Meanwhile, Kivuli summoned her Purple Rainmaker sword into her wing while the other still held her shield. Her purple eyes narrowed as water buffalos charged at her. They didn't know what kind of trouble they headed into. The first one swung his fist at the martial eagle with ducked and slammed the front of her shield into his face to knock him out in an instant. She wasted no time in greeting the next one with a good slash from her sword into his torso, making him collapse and clutch his wound in pain. It would not kill him, of course, but would leave him out of the fight.

"Really? You call yourselves a powerful clan, and that's everything you can offer?" Kivuli asked with a scoff. "You must be joking me!" The martial eagle shifted between blocking with her shield and slashing with her sword through the waves of enemies with power and precision.

Meanwhile, Mei Ling found herself surrounded by many enemies, holding her staff in one paw and resting the other one on her hip. "Come on, boys. Would you really pick up on a lonely girl like this?" The buffalos stopped for a moment and gazed at each other. The golden cat giggled in amusement before getting into her fighting stance. "Just kidding! Come at me: I'm ready!"

As the buffalos charged, Mei Ling swung her staff in a casual way, knocking them down one by one like bulls charging into a rock wall. The big buffalo with a sword Kivuli pushed back earlier came and went for a mortal slash. However, the golden cat performed a moonsault to avoid it and landed with grace onto the swordsman's shoulders. She rose her bo staff above her head before slamming it down onto the buffalo's one. He groaned in pain before falling face-first on the ground, out cold.

"Don't mess with the wrong girl, kid!" she said with giving a wink and letting her tongue out.

Meanwhile, Yukan and Temutai stood across from each other with glares serving as a warning for a violent incoming battle. "Are you sure you want to die so early, young Kung Fu Master?" the Qidan King asked.

"No... I'm ready to send you to the next world in pieces!" He curled his wing like a fist and set it on fire. "ROARING FIST!"

Yukan pushed a battle cry and charged at Temutai, ready to blow him to pieces with all of his rage. However, the water buffalo had one trick up his sleeve. Rising his big foot, he slammed it down hard on the ground, making a wall of stone appear between the two of them. Before Yukan could stop himself, his burning fist collided with the strong material, sending a jolt of pain up his wing.

"What the heck?!" the sun parrot groaned as he backed away and held his wing in pain. "How did he do that?!"

"Surprised?" Temutai asked with a smirk after kicking away the stone wall he created. "So you have fire powers, huh? Sorry to disappoint you, little master, but I possess earth powers! In fact, I'd even go as far as saying the best earth powers in the land: nobody ever defeated me one one one! And I'm not planning on loosing this streak today, young parrot!"

As the water buffalo laughed out loud, Yukan's emerald eyes widened in shock. Everybody knew that fire was strong against many elements... but earth wasn't one of them. And this guy was a SUPER earth master?! This fight wouldn't be as simple as Yukan thought...


	10. Stubborn fight in the Evergreen Village

Yukan groaned as one of Temutai's blows sent him flying backward many feet away from him before rolling to a stop on his stomach. "Darn it!" the sun parrot groaned as he struggled to get back up and wiped away some blood that came out of his beak. His fight with the Qidan King did not turn in his favor for the water buffalo revealed himself to be up to his reputation. This could very well be the fight of the sun parrot's life.

"This is all you can do?!" Temutai screamed and crossed his arms, scoffing in disappointment. "And you dare calling yourself a master? They really give this title to anyone, these days."

"I admit I underestimated you a bit," Yukan recognized as he took his Southern Praying Mantis Style stance again. "I'm gonna fight for real now."

Scoffing again, Temutai slammed his foot on the ground to make three stones fly up in the air. He then slammed his palm into each one of them to send them toward Yukan. Despite his fighting style being based around strength and firmness, the avian knew he couldn't stop them with his raw strength and instead dodged the projectiles with a series of cartwheels.

"STOP AVOIDING ME AND START ATTACKING!" Temutai yelled after jumping toward Yukan and throwing his fist down. The sun parrot jumped in the air to avoid it, letting the water buffalo create a small crater in the ground.

"You asked for it!" As soon as he landed, Yukan delivered an elbow strike across the Qidan King's face, making it turn to the side. However, the effects were short-lived for he glared at Yukan once again and slapped him away with his huge arm. The avian mumbled a swear underneath his breath before using his wings to regain his composure.

He would have wanted to ask his friends for backup in this case, but more Qidan soldiers joined in the fight while he squared off with Temutai. At the moment, Kivuli faced many soldiers armed with swords, hammers, and other heavy types of weapons; Shining Eagle and Kodok were trapped in a firefight with even more bowmen, and Mei Ling prevented the normal troops from approaching their king. In other words, he was alone on this one.

"EARTH WAVE!" Temutai yelled as he slammed his fist on the ground, sending a shockwave into the earth toward Yukan.

"Shit! PHOENIX BREATH!" Yukan yelled and spat a jet of fire in hopes of countering the attack. However, his hopes came fruitless for the earth broke through his fire with ease and collided right into his stomach. The air got knocked out of his lungs and he collapsed on the ground with clutching his torso in pain.

Temutai approached the sun parrot a bit. "Even though my victory was certain, I must admit that you did fight with honor, Yukan Tori. This is why I decided to give you a chance: leave this village with your friends, promise me to not tell anyone about this, and everything will be fine between us. I will not hold any grudge for this encounter."

"That's an interesting offer... that you can shove up your butt!"

Temutai frowned in annoyance. "Try to be reasonable, young master! This whole thing is between the kingdom and my clan; I don't have any problem with you or your Dojo-"

"SHUT UP!" Yukan cut him off with glaring up at him. "It's me who's got a problem with you, okay?! It's true that I never knew about this whole conflict with your your clan, but there's one thing that I know; I can't stand assholes like you who would make an innocent girl suffer out of pride!"

Temutai rose an eyebrow as he stared at the hurt master in interest. "I thought Kung Fu Masters like you were only concerned with maintaining peace in China and not minding other conflicts that could be solved other ways. Are you telling me that you are not fighting right now because of your duty? Then what reason is pushing you to fight for this kingdom you don't even know?"

As he talked, Yukan managed to stand up once again and his emerald green eyes reflected an unquestionable determination. "My duty? You think I became a Kung Fu Master because of _duty_? Well, sorry to break the way you see things, but that's not my motivation at all."

"I'm fighting now because it's the right thing to do!"

Following this statement, the fights calmed off a bit and all the eyes turned to the young master who addressed the Qidan King. "When I stop a criminal or save a life, you think I have my duty in mind? When I saved a kid from an outlaw who wanted to sell him as a slave, you think I had my duty in mind? When I put my life on the line, you think I have my freaking duty in mind?! Don't play hypocrites with me; duty is not strong enough as a motivation for doing all of this! If I became a master and put my life on the line all the time, it's because I want to do what's right and also because I have a goal in life that I cannot achieve otherwise."

He gave a serious look at the Qidan King. "_This is my reason for fighting!_"

After his speech concluded, Kivuli grinned in Yukan's direction. "That boy... I think exactly the same way!" She then glared at the armed buffalos around her. "There's a man I'm going to face and defeat one day! And until that day comes...," malice glowed in her purple eyes, "... not even death will stop me!"

"Same for me!" Shining Eagle said as her white feathers shone under the sunlight and her golden eyes reflected her determination. "I promised my father I would make him and my clan proud; I will hold onto that promise until it comes true!"

"That makes three of us," Mei Ling giggled as she pressed her bo staff against the ground and rested on it. "I swore to myself that I will restore the honor of my family's name and it will happen - even if I have to die."

Hearing these confessions, Kodok trembled a bit and curled his hands into fists. "I understand them... I left my village to become a brave warrior and a Kung Fu Master worthy of that name! The second I walked out of my village, these days of just messing around, pretending, and playing games were finished!" He threw a fist in the air. "I WILL BECOME A GREAT CRAFTER OF THE FROG VILLAGE!"

And with that, the fights resumed. Despite this, Temutai couldn't help but let what the masters declared sink into his mind. Most of the warriors he fought throughout his life did not think about anything but their honor, pride, or duty. But them... they were fighting for what they judged was right and for their personal dreams as well. The Qidan King wanted to take them down for interfering in his business at first... but now, he wanted to see how far their way of fighting could take them.

"Fine, as you wish." Temutai plunged his fist into the ground and made earth gather up and covering all of his arm. Then, pushing a battle cry, he once again charged at Yukan, ready to squash him.

However, the bird had other plans in mind. He ducked the earth fist at the last second, sneaking into the buffalo's defense, and charged his fist with fire. Before his opponent could do anything, Yukan set his fist on fire and delivered a devastating Roaring Fist right into his chin like an uppercut. As a result, the much bigger animal found himself sent into the air and crashed with force on the ground - so much that it created another crater.

"What force...!" Temutai thought as he rubbed his hoof over his burning cheek and struggled to stand up. However, right after he did so, Yukan charged on the offensive again, ready to deliver another Roaring to the water buffalo. Even if he could survive this attack, he did not want to take another shot like this. And so, dodging the burning wing by millimeters, he rose his arm and delivered a clothesline to the sun parrot, making him flip and land on his stomach.

"Didn't see that one coming," Yukan admitted after getting back up and shaking away the surprise effect.

A huge battle roar resonated behind him and he turned around to see Temutai charging at him like a bull. Mumbling a swear, Yukan jumped to avoid him, and he broke through the court's wall like a wall of paper. That did not his momentum at all, however, and he turned around to charge once again. Realizing jumping would lead to nowhere, Yukan ran away from the buffalo in hopes he would end tiring himself up.

However, that did not happen as the Qidan King kept running with the same energy even after a full minute. Yukan, on the other hand, started running out of stamina. Realizing his plan would not work, he stopped and swiftly turned around to launch a counter-attack.

"FIREFLY BOMBS!" Little green glowing balls flew out of his wing feathers, floating their way toward the charging buffalo. Once he came close enough, Yukan made them explode, hoping the firepower would cause enough damage to take his opponent out for good.

It didn't.

Temutai dashed out of the smoke left by the Firefly Bombs and charged headfirst into Yukan's torso. The poor bird spat a lot of blood and found himself flying back. A huge rush of pain shot through his back as he broke through the palace building's wall and came to a stop on his back. He felt like the impact broke all the bones of his spine. Breathing became difficult for him and he needed to cough to get the air out.

"Had enough already?" Temutai as he walked into the building through the hole he created. "I'm getting tired of playing your little games!"

"Do I look like I'm having fun?" Yukan sarcastically asked as he struggled to stand up again, trying to ignore the pain.

Scoffing, the Qidan King charged in for yet another bull attack. But this time, Yukan knew what to do. Jumping at the last second, he landed onto the water buffalo's back and wrapped his wings around his huge head. Time to make some fried buffalo!

Temutai felt the avian's wings heat up as he created fire with them and started burning on his head skin. Screaming in pain, he struggled and squirmed like a wild beast to shake his attacker off his back. However, Yukan knew this could be his last chance at dealing a good deal of damage to the Qidan King and refused to let go despite being shaken in every direction.

After too much time for his pleasure, Temutai got enraged by the burning pain on his head and grabbed the wings that caused it. Yukan could only swear in his head as he got flipped over and smashed hard back-first on the floor. Not stopping there, the buffalo lifted the sun parrot by his wings and launched him in the air before delivering a devastating punch into his stomach that sent him flying up and through the ceiling.

Yukan grunted in pain as he felt his back breaking through the ceiling of every floor. "Just how many floors does this building have?!" he thought with annoyance. Before long, he broke through the palace's rooftop and found himself flying up in the air.

His head felt heavier and heavier as each pulse of throbbing pain pounded his senses over and over again. His entire body told him to stop what he was doing, stop and find relief from this hellish feeling. Several voices echoed through his head. Some telling him everything will be fine, others telling him it won't be. Yukan felt tired. He felt his bones broken, his muscles sore, and his feathers tainted with his own blood. He just wanted to drift away into unconsciousness and wake up in a hospital bed with doctors tending to his wounds.

And yet, something else prevented it from happening.

The cries and desperate expression on Mei Li's face. The way Temutai described his treatment for the villagers. The pain of his past failures. And the fact his new friends were putting all on the line to fight at his side...

Yukan clutched his wings into fists and shot his emerald eyes open with determination. He would not fail again!" "Black Hawk, Sora, James, everyone... Just look at me! I'm gonna win!" Spinning around, he set his fists on fire and pointed them forward as gravity started pulling him back down into the building's hole and toward Temutai. As he gained speed, his fire became larger and made him look like a meteorite.

"What the...?!" Temutai could only look up in confusion as he saw a flaming bird coming down toward him with tremendous speed. His eyes widened in horror and, before he could do anything, the fireball came crashing down right on top of him.

BOOM!

The fights outside ceased as the explosion inside shook the building to its core, fire bursting out of the doors and windows. Soon, the whole palace crumbled and started falling to the side, crashing down to create a giant cloud of dust. The Qidan warriors and Kung Fu Masters watched with shock and worry as the formers feared for their king while the later feared for their friend.

"W-What happened? Who have won?" Mei Ling asked, blinking her yellow eyes.

"I don't know; I just saw Yukan falling down like a fireball inside the palace," Kodok explained as he removed his goggles.

At the same time, most of the Evergreen Village's villagers, including princess Mei Li herself, gathered near the palace to watch the battle. They were shocked to see their beloved palace collapse like this and couldn't wait to see who won the fight deciding their fate.

"Yukan...," the princess nervously mumbled as she clutched the vest the sun bird gave her before going to battle.

BRRR!

Soon, a pile of rumbles on top of the now destroyed palace started moving. A figure stepped out of it, coming to the surface once again. Everybody held their breath... until they saw the figure revealed itself to be an avian one.

"YUKAN!" Mei Li beamed in joy as the Qidan warriors' jaws fell to the floor and the Kung Fu Masters also beamed in joy.

Yukan panted, his clothes being a bit damaged and his feathers tainted with blood. After regaining his right composure, he filled his lungs with air and shouted as loud as he could so that everyone could hear him. "MEI LI!" His emerald green eyes stared at the princess with nothing but determination. "YOUR...PEOPLE...IS FREE!"

It took the last bit of strength he had left to speak out these words. And yet, the sun parrot managed to stay up long enough to see the little princess' scared face turn into one of hope with tears filling her eyes before collapsing on his back and passing out.

* * *

Yukan groaned as he regained consciousness bit by bit. The pain from his fight felt a lot worse now for adrenaline faded away and no longer protected him. At least, he was still alive and that made him happy. After blinking his eyes a few times, he saw Shining Eagle sitting at the feet of his bed. The relieved smile on her face made Yukan feel a little better.

"Hey, Yukan."

"Hey, Shining... Where are we?"

"At the village's infirmary; we took you here after the end of the fight," the golden eagle explained. Just then, Yukan noticed that his fellow masters were present in the room as well.

"Dude, you defeated King Temutai of the Qidan Clan! That's CRAZY!" Kodok beamed as he took Yukan's wings with his little hands.

"I admit it was impressive," Kivuli casually said with a smile. "Most of the folks I know would have passed out from taking such a beating."

"How did you manage to overpower him?" Mei Ling asked as she hopped onto the bed like a cat.

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Yukan said with looking at his bandaged wing. "I just...wanted to save Mei Li and it somehow gave me the strength to keep going on..."

"You can say that again."

Yukan turned his head to the side... and widened his eyes. "Temutai?!" Indeed, the Qidan King laid in a bed not too far from Yukan's, his body covered in bandages and wet towels put on his head.

"Hey," he said with casually waving his hoof. "I have to apologize for what I said about you, little master. You are possibly one of the best opponents I ever had the chance to face. You're even one of the few who actually managed to defeat me."

"I defeated you... Wait, then this means that you're gonna let Mei Li and her people go?"

The water buffalo nodded. "Yes. I am a man of my word, young master. The princess and her kingdom are free. And I promise that the Qidan Clan will never attack them again."

This announcement brought a smile on Yukan's black beak. Just then, the room's door opened and in walked a young pig girl. "Hey, Mei Li," Yukan greeted her. "Guess what Temutai just told me: you and your people are free. You will live in peace once again."

The pig princess gazed at her hero in surprise which soon got replaced by gratefulness. She could not believe that all of her years of suffering ended like this thank to this sun parrot whom she barely met. And yet, despite this, he willingly put his life on the line against the Qidan King to save her and her people. Her heart filled with joy and gratefulness, the princess ran to jump onto Yukan's bed and hugged the parrot.

"Y-Yukan... I-I don't know how...," she sniffed while crying.

Yukan stared down at her... smiling and patting her back. "It's okay, Mei Li. I'm glad I could help you, you know." After she finished sobbing into his feathers, the princess looked up at him with wet eyes and a smile. Yukan chuckled. "You know, you look very cute when you smile."

Mei Li just cried a bit more and hugged her savior with the same smile. Yukan felt happy and gently patted the young girl's head. He then looked up toward his friends: Shining Eagle looked very charmed by his kindness; Kodok gave him a thumb up; Kivuli gave a nod of approval, and Mei Ling just giggled with a paw on her mouth.

"Nobody will believe us when we will return to the dojo...," Yukan thought.

* * *

Meanwhile, far from there, a peregrine falcon chuckled as he stared at the scenery around him. Tens of corpses lay around in the middle of the open green field. Green now tainted by the fall of a red rain. His comrade, a deer, pulled his blood-tainted sword back into its sheath as his yellow eyes glared down at the three owls kneeling before them.

"Tsahahahahaha! I'm glad to see you know how to use Gouijan Sword, Genghis!" Xerxes laughed.

"Well, to be honest, I don't entirely have control over it," Genghis replied as he unsheathed the bronze sword once more and looked at its blade. "It is more powerful than I expected; I will need some time before becoming a master with it."

"It's fine with me; nobody's in a hurry after all." The falcon then turned his attention back to the three defeated owls. "Now tell me, which one of you shot that arrow aiming to end my life?"

The three owls all looked down in fear, not daring to say anything. However, one of them soon stood up with a nervous look. "It was me..."

"Oh? Is that so?" Xerxes asked as he eyed the owl from head to toe. He then grinned evilly and reached a wing toward him. "In that case..."

The young owl closed his eyes, ready for the falcon to end his life... but it never came. Instead, he just felt a wing patting his head. Opening his eyes, he saw Xerxes smiling at him.

"...congratulations! You are now a general of my army!"

**Author's note: I think this is the longest chapter I wrote for this story so far. I hope it wasn't too long or boring. So, the Evergreen Village arc comes to a close after only five chapters. I know it's not as long as other stories on this site, but if there's one thing Avatar: The Last Airbender taught me, it's that it's possible to tell a great story in a short time span.**

**Now, I have to tell you something: before starting the next arc, I'm gonna do a little work on the previous chapters. This means I want to fix grammar mistakes and also see what could be improved with help from my friends. Also, for the next arc, I will need OCs for reasons you'll understand later on. If this interest you, you can PM me for more information. Except that, may the gods watch over you all.**


	11. Good tea and bad tea

Another beautiful day in the Valley of Peace. With the middle of spring arriving, the population could enjoy a well-balanced weather to go outside and either do shopping or activities with their friends. This is no different for the masters of the Frog Dojo. Thee weeks have passed since the team of Yukan Tori, Kivuli, Shining Eagle, Kodok, and Mei Ling returned from their mission at the Evergreen Village. The other students of the Dojo found it hard to believe that the newcomer managed to defeat the Qidan King in a one on one duel. But they knew that the other masters would never lie on such subject and decided to believe them. Things have been pretty quiet ever since.

"You're done, this time, guys!" Yukan declared with a grin. "I've got the advantage on you!"

The sun parrot played a game of Mahjong against Shining Eagle and Master Shujinko. Since the old master didn't hold training sessions today, he asked if his students wanted to play a game with him and the two avians accepted. While they did have some experience in this game, they were nothing compared to the frog - he won all of their games so far! But Yukan would not give up until he won at least one game.

The sun parrot placed down one of his tiles and grinned. "And BAM! I take the lead there!"

Shining Eagle stared at her own tiles and giggled. "I cannot fight you on this one, Yukan; you win this round."

"Impressive, isn't it, Master?"

The old frog pulled his big lips into a smile. "Indeed, young Yukan." He then pulled down one of his own tiles...and changed the whole direction of the game. "But you must not scream victory before the game is over!"

"WHAT?!" Yukan's emerald green eyes widened in disbelief and he dropped his tiles in shock. "Are you kidding me, Master?! With only ONE tile, you managed to take down all of my efforts! How is that even possible?!"

"As I always said, experience outlast everything else, my young student. And unfortunately for you, I happen to have decades of experience with Majhong!" the frog said with chuckling out loud.

As Yukan comically fell head-first on the table, Shining Eagle giggled and gave him some pats of comforts on the back. Master Shujinko then took his cup of tea lying on another table next to him and took a sip... which he immediately spat out in disgust. "By the elders! This tea is nothing more than hot leaf juice!"

Yukan rose his head from the table and stared at the frog. "Master, that's what all tea is."

In a split-second, the sun parrot found himself starring into a pair of golden yellow eyes as Shujinko dashed right in his face with the most serious of all looks. "How can a student of my own Dojo say such a terrible thing?!" He then grabbed him by the collar of his vest and started dragging him toward the Dojo's exit.

"W-What are you doing, Master?!" the parrot asked while struggling to stay up.

"I'm taking you to the market; time you learn how to differenciate good tea from bad tea!"

* * *

As the master left the Frog Dojo with his student, a cloaked figure stared at them from the top of a nearby building. A pair of amber eyes glowed in the dark brought by the hoodie.

"So there you are, Master Shujinko. I'm glad to have finally found you in this huge city... The time for my dad to return has come..."

* * *

A few moments later, Yukan and Master Shujinko were walking together in a local market. Many shops were set along either side of the street which went on for miles. And all of them offered everything one can think about: food, furnitures, books, candies, and even merchandise based on famous Kung Fu Masters. The line between being a hero and a celebrity can sometimes be blurred, from Yukan's point of view.

They eventually arrived to a tea shop called "The Lotus Tea" located a bit remote from the other market. Good thing because Yukan was getting tired from all the market streets' excitation, all these kids running around and yelling for no reason. Crossing the entrance door, they entered a room with shleves displaying tens of different tea flavors as well as preparation books. A female goose stood behind the counter at the back of the room and only two other clients were present in the shop.

"Follow me, young Yukan. We're going to get you a good book on how to make REALLY good tea," Shujinko said and walked over to the book section.

"So, which book are we gonna take?"

The old frog seemed about to answer... but then looked uncertain. He looked at all the books and mumbled something under his breath. "Huh... I did not remember that there were so many books last time I came to this shop." He chuckled a bit and turned toward his student. "You know what, Yukan, why don't you go outside the shop and see if there's anything you want to buy in the market while I figure out which book would be the best one?"

This idea sounded pretty good to the sound parrot. After saving them, the Evergreen Village offered a big reward to him and his friends. Of course, they did not told Shujinko about it for they were sure he would take half of it away. This left Yukan with a good amount of money he could spend for one thing or two. "Sure, sounds like a good idea. See you later, Master," he said with exiting the tea shop.

So what could Yukan go looking for? Maybe something to decorate his room in the Dojo? It's true that his room felt a bit empty and could use something to become more distinguishable. How about a few posters or action figures of the masters and celebrities he admired?

However, he soon came across a strange group on the path leading back to the market street. This group consisted of male coyotes wearing black dresses and a cloaked figure ahead leading them up. Thye stopped upon crossing path with the sun parrot. "Get out of our way!" the cloaked figure ordered. Judging by its tone, Yukan could identify this figure as a female.

However, the sun parrot did not move. First, because he didn't like receiving orders from a stranger, and second, because upon giving a better look at the coyotes with the cloaked figure, he realized something. "Hey, wait a minute! I know you! You were with this group of coyotes who attacked the Tuvali Village!"

Right after saying this statement, the cloaked figure delivered a kick out of nowhere into Yukan's chest, knocking him into a nearby shop selling food, noodles splattering all over him. "Take care of him! I'm going after Shujinko myself!" she said before running inside the tea shop.

The annoyed sun parrot shook the noodle soup off his feathers and clothes, apologized to the shop's owner, a male goose, and then stood up to face the incoming coyotes who revealed their weapons. Giving them a glare, he took his Reverse Southern Praying Mantis Stance. "Alright, bring it on..."

* * *

"... Maybe I should pick this one? No, it looks too old; tea got better with time. How about that one? Hmm... Nope, the title sounds too confident in itself. Probably some random author who just wanted to get money..." The Lotus Tea's owner giggled as she saw her favorite client going through all of her shop's books, unable to decide which one he wanted to buy for his student.

The shop's door then opened and in walked a cloaked figure. Without really knowing why, the owner felt an intimidating aura emanating from this figure. "Shujinko!" she called.

The frog turned around upon hearing his name being called. "Yes, is there a problem, my friend?"

As an answer, the figure charged forward and went for a dive kick. While he did not expect this, Shujinko's first reaction was to lift his two hands and block the incoming foot. While hd did stumble back a bit, the old frog maintained his position and pushed the attacker back before turning around and running out of the shop by an open window.

"You won't escape me!" the cloaked figure shouted with running after the frog, jumping out the window. She arrived into a slightly large open back alley where Shujinko stood, his back facing her. "You're not running away from me anymore?"

"I wasn't running around." The old frog turned to face his opponent with a smile. "I just wanted to get you out of the shop before starting our fight. I wouldn't want my favorite tea shop to be destroyed in this fight. Now, may I ask you who you are, young lady?" The cloaked figure responded by grabbing her cloak and tossing it away, revealing herself at last.

A beautiful dragoness with light red scales and a golden underbelly. She looks the same age as Yukan and his friends. Nine golden horns adorn her head with three on each side and three along the middle her neck. Her dress consists of a dark purple tank top that leaves her curvy stomach exposed and also comes with holes for her wings to come out behind, and jogging pants of the same color. In addition, she have golden bracelets on her wrists and ankles. What stands out the most are the strange symbols on her forehead, around her golden eyes, and on her hips.

Shujinko's yellow eyes widened in shock. "F-Fyra?! Is that you?"

A grin formed on the dragoness' lips. "Glad to see you still remember me after all this time, old frog." She then took a fighting stance which Shujinko recognized as the Souther Dragon Kung Fu (also known as Long Ying Mo Kiu) Style.

Sighing, the old frog also took his fighting stance by spreading his legs and lifting his hands above his head. The Crab Style stance. "I wished our next encounter would be a bit more enjoyable..."

Pushing a battle cry, Fyra went on the attack, throwing precise and agressive strikes at her opponent. Due to his size and composure, the frog managed to dodge and block all of her strikes with agility and precision. The dragoness became quickly annoyed and started swinging her tail at him as well, hoping its sharp end would cause at least some damage. However, Shujinko jumped to avoid the attack and delivered a precise strike into her leg, making her wince in pain.

"Darn it! It's not easy to attack and parry such a small creature at the same time!" Fyra thought with rubbing her poor leg in pain.

The fight went on for a little while during which Fyra pressed on her attacks, but Shujinko jumped and rolled all around her. The amphibian's size made it almost impossible for her to hit him. Realizing her current strategy would not work, the dragoness decided to make a change by jumping back, putting some distance between her opponent and herself.

"SHADOW CLAWS!" A dark purple energy covered her paws and took the form of big claws looking as sharp as razors. She charged once again and swung her claws with tremendous speed at her opponent. And, while he couldn't deny she became quicker, Shujinko still managed to dodge her attacks. But realizing that defensive wouldn't make him win this fight, he decided to counterattack by leapfrogging behind the dragoness, duck a claw slash as he landed, and delivered a powerful palm strike into her exposed abdomen which did knock the air out of her, but didn't cause too much damage.

"Please, Fyra, stop this!" the amphibian said. "I am sorry for what I did. But your father was evil and didn't leave me with a choice. Nothing forces you to become like him."

"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" Fyra angrily said. However, before she could attack again, a fire blast blocked her path and she turned to see a pissed sun parrot glaring at her.

"Sorry to break it to ya, but your little pack of coyotes wer eno match for me," he declared with making some fire with his wings.

As much as the thought annoyed her, Fyra knew she couldn't fight Master Shujinko and his student at the same time. Sighing, she pulled her Shadow Claws away and opened her wings to take off to the sky. Yukan got ready to shoot a fire blast at her, only for Shujinko to stop him with his hand. "No, let her go, young Yukan..."

The sun parrot did not expect his master to let such a criminal escape. "Why would you let her go, Master? Do you know this dragoness?"

"Yes, an old acquaintance of mine...," the frog said in an unusual sad tone. "She is on a dark path... but she is not dark herself..." He then looked at Yukan with a bright smile. "But on the bright side, I think I found the perfect tea book for you. Let's go buy it."

Yukan blinked his eyes. He just got attacked by a dragoness who attempted to kil him, and all he thought about... was the tea book? "Hum... okay?"

**Author's note: Looks like Yukan's gonna have to learn to make a good tea if he doesn't want Master Shujinko to be mad at him. Poor guy. But I'm glad I finally got the chance to put Shujinko in the spotlight for he is one of my personal favorite characters. And, in case you didn't notice, yes, Fyra is inspired by The Legend Of Spyro's Cynder. She is my most favorite character from the game franchise. Except that, may the gods watch over you all.**


	12. Great news

"Awww, is there anything better than this?" Shining Eagle mumbled to herself in joy.

The female avian darted through the skies above the Valley of Peace's city, moving along the wind with grace and joy. For a bird like her, nothing could beat the sense of freedom brought by the sky's air and the feeling of the wind blowing through her feathers. One of the biggest joys of her life. If her wings were to be taken away... No, she could not imagine herself without the ability to fly.

But as with all good things, she needed to put this to an end and return to the Frog Dojo for the training of the day. However, as she changed the course of her flight, she noticed something strange. A large group of armed individuals walked inside the city by the main entrance. Their formation was well-organised and they carried a big flag that the female avian recognized almost instantly.

"Is that... the Imperial Army?"

* * *

"Mmmh! Those are delicious!" Kodok beamed as he swallowed his noodles.

Yukan decided to invite his best frog friend to have a breakfast at the noodle shop he ate in when he arrived in the Valley of Peace for the first time. He commanded the same noodle soup with artificial eggs he ate with that peregrine falcon... and Kodok ADORED them. "Glad you like it," the sun parrot told the amphibian with a chuckle.

"Like it? No. Adore it? Absolutely! It has all the perfect flavors one can look for inside a meal without making you gain weight for more!"

Yukan rose an eyebrow at this. "You care about your weight? I thought only girls like Shining Eagle and Mei Ling bothered with this kind of stuff."

"Speaking of which, have you seen Mei Ling? I didn't saw her in the Dojo for the last few days," Kodok asked.

"I think she left for a big mission very far from here," Yukan responded. "Apparently, this mission offers a huge reward which is why she will be away for a while. I just hope her mission will go well."

"Don't worry; she's strong and more than capable of taking care of herself." The young frog then noticed something and his smile faded away. "Wait, what's going on?"

Yukan followed his gaze and found himself just as confused. Heavily-armored soldiers that he recognized as from the Imperial Army cleaned the streets, checking on every animal they encountered, making sure no danger lurked around. What were they doing here? The Valley of Peace is one of the safest cities in China. Why would the Imperial Army come here?

"Let's go check this out," Yukan said with getting up from his seat and walked over to one of the soldiers, a pangolin. "Huh, excuse me, are you from the Imperial Army?"

The soldier turned to look at the sun parrot and nodded. "Yes, Master. We have come here to clean the streets of this city. It shall take us a while to do so."

"But why?" Kodok asked. "Is there a dangerous criminal on the lose or something?"

"Not exactly, Master Kodok," the pangolin replied. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you more for the moment. But do not worry; you will be cleared on the subject very soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go back to my work."

And with that, the soldier returned to join his comrades in their work of cleaning the street. The sun parrot and frog exchanged confused glances and decided it would be better to go back at the Frog Dojo and ask Master Shujinko if he knew anything about this.

When they arrived back at the Frog Dojo, the old frog won another game of Mahjong against a student and took a sip of a sweet cup of tea. "Master!" Yukan called.

"Oh, Yukan, Kodok, you boys arrive just in time. The training session is about to start."

"We need to talk before that, Master," Kodok said. "We come back from eating in the city and we saw the Imperial Army cleaning the streets! It's very strange!"

This news caused the old frog to look away from his tea cup after taking a sip and at his two students with a surprised look. "The Imperial Army you say? Why would they-"

"Master!" Just then, Shining Eagle came down from the skies and landed inside the Dojo with the others after darting through the entrance door. "I went on my morning flight when I saw the Imperial Army patrolling in the city!"

And right after this, Kivuli also arrived. "Huh, guys, I know you won't believe me, but-"

"Let me guess, you saw the Imperial Army in the city?" Yukan cut her off.

The martial eagle blinked her eyes. "You... saw them too?"

All the eyes turned toward Shujinko who rubbed his chin. Soon, he snapped his fingers and widened his eyes, as if he remembered something. "Of course! How could I forget the time for it finally arrived?!"

This sudden outburst caused the frog's students to give him confused looks. "What are you talking about, Master?" Kivuli asked.

Shujinko smiled at all four of them. "My dear students, I forgot to tell you about it, but there's a special event that will take place in our city very soon. It's a very ancient event that is important and historical to the Kung Fu culture. This event is the Legendary Tournament!"

The three students showed shocked expressions after what their master just said. Yukan, however, just looked confused. "The Legendary Tournament? What's that?"

Everyone looked at the sun parrot in shock. "Are you kidding me, buddy? You never heard about the biggest Kung Fu tournament in China?!" Kodok asked in disbelief.

"Hey, you forget that I'm from Japan and only moved in here recently!"

Shujinko cleared his throat to get his students' attention again. "As I was saying, the Legendary Tournament is a great Kung Fu event held every ten years and consists of a series of four different phases. The goal is to win these four phases. By doing so, you will win the tournament which is a very great honor and will also earn you a reward of a million yuan."

"A-A million yuan?!" Yukan exclaimed in shock. "My gosh, that's a fortune!"

Shujinko nodded his head with a soft smile. "Anybody is welcome to participate in the Legendary Tournament, wether you're a Kung Fu Master, apprentice, or even an independent fighter. However, nobody can force you to participate; that decision is entirely up to you."

Yukan looked down at his wing and curled it like a fist. If what Master Shujinko said ended up being true, then there would be a lot of strong people participating in this tournament. It would be the greatest opportunity for him to prove to everyone... to himself that he deserved to be called a master and not being considered a weakling. Excitation and determination boiled up so violently inside of him that he ignited fire around his fist without even realizing it.

"Huh, Yukan, are you alright?" Shining Eagle asked upon noticing her friend's expression.

He looked at with a grin and fire behind his emerald eyes. "I already made up my mind! I'm gonna participate in this tournament!"

"What?! You already took such an important decision after only a few seconds?!" Kodok exclaimed in shock.

"I did so too." Everybody turned to look at Kivuli who replaced her usually cool expression by an excited grin. "I'm gonna participate too; nothing interesting happened since the event with the Qidan Clan anyways." She then wrapped a wing around Shining Eagle's shoulders. "We're gonna show all these masters the strength of the Frog Dojo. Aren't we, Shining?"

"Huh... Yes! Of course!" the golden eagle replied with an unsure smile.

"You're participating too, Kodok," the martial eagle added.

"What?! Why me?! I'm not ready to take part in such a huge martial arts event-"

"Because I know that you have dreams and ambitions just like us; you just lack the guts to make a move, so I'm giving you the kick in the butt you need!" the martial eagle said, towering over the frog with her purple eyes filled with firmness. "Am I making myself clear?"

"...Yes, ma'am!" Kodok quickly replied, not daring to piss her off.

The martial eagle smiled in satisfaction. "Good."

"So you have all made your decision?" Shujinko asked. "You will all participate in this edition of the Legendary Tournament?"

Yukan gave a determined grin. "We sure as hell will, Master..."

**Author's note: Surprise, surprise! This new arc will be a tournament, my friends. I know it might be a little soon to make a tournament in this story (specially considering that tournament arcs in animes are generally boring), but I'm gonna try to make this as interesting and original as I can. I even asked some friends to give me advice and went to search some on my own on the Internet.**

**Exceptionally, for this arc, I will accept OCs from other authors to participate in the Legendary Tournament. Keep in mind that you have to give me a lot of infos about them for I will not accept mere archetypes who can easily be replaced by background characters. And note that I will not accept all of them - in fact, guest OCs will be limited. But except that, I hope you are as excited as I am for this arc and may the gods watch over you all.**


	13. Inscriptions for the tournament

After asking a tourist guide where the inscriptions for the Legendary Tournament were to take place, the four masters of the Frog Dojo left toward the location in question. A large building located in the downtown that usually hosted big sport events. It took the friends only a few minutes to make it there. The first thing they noticed was the large crowd gathered in front of the entrance. At first, they thought they were spectators coming to buy tickets for the tournament... but soon, they realized that they were actually animals who came to participate.

The line to get inside was pretty long which left the four friends with at least half an hour of waiting time. "Awww, I'm bored!" Yukan said with impatience, walking in circles.

"Come on, Yukan; it's worth it if it allows us to participate in the biggest Kung Fu tournament in China, don't you think?" Shining Eagle pointed out, trying to cheer up her sun parrot friend.

"I know, but still..."

"Would you stop perambulating? You're making everyone nervous," Kivuli said with an annoyed tone.

Yukan stopped walking and sighed before looking at the martial eagle. "Sorry, guys. It's just that... patience isn't exactly my strong point."

"We noticed that," Kivuli mumbled.

"Come on, guys; our turn should come in a few minutes now," Kodok said as the line became smaller and smaller.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the masters of the Frog Dojo arrived at the inscription desk. A male buffalo gave them a few papers to sign. These included their name, age, species, criminal record, years of experience, etc. They also found themselves having to sign a waiver to clear the makers of the tournament from any responsibility, should they get injured or die. This part made Kodok nervous, but a good glare from Kivuli gave him the motivation to sign the paper.

After they finished with the paperwork, Shining Eagle threw her wing in the air. "Alright! Now, we're all officially in the Legendary Tournament!" she beamed.

"I just hope this waiver thing was just for good measures and that nobody ever died in this tournament before," Kodok said with rubbing his hands together.

"So, what do you guys wanna do now? Go back at the Dojo and get prepared for the first phase?" Kivuli asked.

"No. I think we should hang around here for a while and take a good look at the participants. That way, we'll know what we'll be up against during the phases," Yukan said.

The others agreed with that idea and split up to go their own way, walking amongst the other participants.

* * *

As he walked through the crowd of participants in the building, Yukan couldn't help but notice that some of the participants were giving him odd looks. A few of them even whispered to each other.

"Do you think that's him?"

"Well, he's a sun parrot, so it's most likely."

"You believe he can truly use fire powers?"

"He sure looks very strong."

What were they talking about? He couldn't have made himself such a reputation; he has been with the Frog Dojo for barely a month. Could it be that another bird with fire powers participated in this tournament as well? Or... did his reputation from Japan followed him all the way here? No. Impossible. He never talked about his past to anybody at the Dojo, let alone to anyone in the city. They couldn't know.

"Hey! You, over there!" Yukan turned around to come face to face with a male tiger.

A strong piece of male feline who towered over him by at least two feet. His bright white fur came with faded light brown stripes and his amethyst purple eyes made it clear he did not come here to mess around. He wore a faded grey sleeveless top with the blue metal design of a dragon along with black pants with a hole for his tail and a metal chain tied around his waist. His left ear looked a bit chipped and a scar crossed the right side of his neck, going down under his top.

"Huh yes?"

"Are you Master Sunbird by simple curiosity?" the tiger asked in a quiet yet firm voice.

"Huh, no. My name is Yukan Tori. I think you're looking for someone else."

The tiger then grinned. "No doubt, you are the bird I'm looking for. You're a bird and you come from Japan, right?"

"Yes."

"And you have fire powers, out of curiosity?"

"Yes again."

"Perfect."

"And what's YOUR name?" Yukan asked, trying to shake off the uncomfortable expression on his face.

"My name is Daito Shun. But you may call me Daito, Yukan Tori. I'm from the Tienshan mountain range in Northwestern China."

"Northwestern China?" Yukan asked with a look of surprise. "That's pretty far from here. I didn't know this tournament would be THIS special."

"Yeah, you have no idea how far I've traveled in hopes of facing the best masters in the country. Especially the likes of you. You better not disappoint me," Daito said with a tone of challenge in his voice.

Yukan gave him a grin. "Oh, believe me, there will be a LOT of challenge from me."

With this being done, the northern tiger walked away, leaving the sun parrot alone. The first competitor he met and he could already feel the spirit of challenge in the air. Yukan chuckled to himself. He would DEFINITELY face a lot of strong opponents in this tournament. But then, something bumped into him from behind, causing him to fall on the floor.

"Hey! Watch out!" he groaned with turning around to look at who bumped into him. A panda wearing patched up trousers and a pair of sandals.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, man," the panda quickly apologized with getting Yukan back up thanks to his big arms. He then gave the avian a better look with his jade green eyes and gasped. "Oh my gosh! You're Master Sunbird!"

Yukan raised an eyebrow at this. "Why does everyone keep calling me that? My name is Yukan Tori."

"Oh, so you don't know?" the panda asked with a surprised look.

"Know what?"

"Dude, everybody has heard about your fight against Temutai the Qidan King in the Evergreen Village!" the panda boasted while jumping in excitation. "Apparently, it was a truly AWESOME fight where you took a lot of damage, but you never gave up! And you took Temutai down with super cool fire powers! This is why everyone started calling you Master Sunbird, 'cause you're a bird and you can make fire! This is so AWESOME!"

Yukan blinked his eyes. So the whole Kung Fu community knew about his victory against the Qidan King? Wow, news really got around fast in this country. "They decided to give me a master's name without asking my opinion?" Sure, Master Sunbird did sound like a cool name, but he would have liked to get a word into the choice. "Okay... So, what's your name?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself," the panda sheepishly said. "My name is Po Ping, call me Po. I'm the Dragon Warrior and student of Master Shifu at the Jade Palace."

Upon hearing this, Yukan's emerald green eyes widened. "Wait, you're the Dragon Warrior?! The hero of this city?"

"Yeah, you heard about me?"

Yukan smiled. "I sure did. I heard about how you saved the city from Master Shifu's former student, Tai Lung. Is it true that you took him down with the Wu Xi Finger Hold?"

"Exactly! And I figured it out on my own," Po said with a bit of pride in his voice.

Yukan bowed in respect as people from Japan usually do. "I'm very honored to meet you in person."

"Po, there you are." The two males turned around to see a tiger arriving, a female this time. She wore a red vest with black vine patterns and black pants just like Daito. And the expression on her face was even more stoic.

"Oh, hi, Tigress," Po said. "You won't believe whom I've met, it's Master Sunbird! The guy we heard about lately!"

"Oh?" Tigress said with looking at the sun parrot. "So you're the new student of Master Shujinko's Frog Dojo? I am Master Tigress of the Jade Palace and leader of the Furious Five."

To Po's surprise, any trace of joy left Yukan's face and he even looked rather annoyed. "Yeah, hi. Excuse me, but I have to go," he said and walked away before the masters of the Jade Palace could say anything.

Tigress blinked her eyes. "What's wrong with him?" Po shrugged and shook his head. Even he was surprised by the avian's rudeness.

* * *

"The participants sure look tough," Kodok said with a gulp as he walked alongside Shining Eagle between the intimidating participants who gave them a few stares - mostly at the avian.

"Don't worry; looks can be deceiving. Master Shujinko always told us that," Shining Eagle said in a positive tone. "We already faced many opponents who looked tough, but ended up being weak." Just after saying, she came across someone who made her stop in her tracks.

A male yeti a bit taller than Shining Eagle. He has snow-white fur, blue eyes, and a stubble beard. He wears a black toque on top of his head which leaves some of his hair coming out, black gloves, large gray boots, a light blue vest open to show his toned abdomen, a blue scarf hanging like a belt, and a bracelet made of seashells on his right wrist.

He gave the duo a charming smile. "Greetings, I hope you're having a nice day."

"Oh, hello," Kodok said with a smile. "Yes, we're having a good day so far-"

"I was not talking to you, pal," the yeti interrupted him. "I was talking to the lovely lady at your side."

"M-Me?" Shining Eagle asked in surprise.

"Indeed," the yeti said with taking the eagle's wing in his paw. "I saw you from afar and realized that I rarely such a beautiful bird; I couldn't resist the desire to come and tell you in person." This compliment caused Shining Eagle to blush which she attempted to hide with her wing. She knew that she wasn't an ugly girl, but she didn't receive a lot of compliments about her appearance. Mei Ling was the one to receive that kind of treatment. "So tell me, is your name as cute as your face?"

Shining rubbed her wings while looking down. "It's Shining Eagle."

"It means yes, then," the yeti said with a charming smile, causing the heat to rush even harder to Shining Eagle's cheeks. "My name is Snow Kid from the Magic Kung Fu School."

Kodok scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Playboy..."

After this remark, Shining Eagle's yellow eyes widened a bit. "Wait, you're from the Magic Kung Fu School?! One of the greatest Dojos in China led by Grandmaster Tanya?!"

"We sure are," a new voice said, making the two masters turn to see a female cat coming their way.

Her fur is a pitch black and her eyes are yellow orbs with muck-green irises. She wears golden robes with lime green dragon patterns and a pair of sandals. In addition, golden bracelets decorated her wrists and ankles. Her dress looks more Egyptian than Chinese.

"You really can't stop yourself from flirting with everything feminine you encounter, can't you, Snow?" she asked with crossing her arms.

"Leave me alone, Siax," Snow Kid replied. "I'll have to wait another ten years before participating in another tournament like this, so I have to enjoy it."

The black cat named Siax rolled her eyes and grabbed the yeti's arm. "Come on, let's get out of here. Grandmaster Tanya and Banshi are waiting for us." She then looked at the duo from the Frog Dojo. "Sorry for the trouble. See you in the tournament."

As they walked away, Kodok blinked his eyes. "... I wasn't expecting to meet masters from the Magic Kung Fu School."

"I hope we'll see them again in the tournament... and soon," Shining Eagle said with rubbing her wings and blushing.

Kodok blinked his eyes. "Seriously?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Kivuli walked in her own corner, giving glances at the participants who looked a bit intimidated. She produced an aura reflecting her fierce and dangerous personality. The others realized she wasn't a participant to mess with... and they were right.

Soon, the martial eagle noticed a little guy that seemed out of place amongst the participants. A male dog with a dark blue fur and some black markings here and there, his ears being completely black. He was barely taller than Shujinko and his only assortment of cloth was dark green and dirty pants held in place by a rope tied around his waist. His ears were unusually long, reaching his shoulders and his eyes were red. He looked pretty... lost.

Curiosity getting the best of her, Kivuli decided to go talk to him. "Hey, you lost, kid?"

"Oh, hello," he replied formally.

"I'm Master Kivuli from the Frog Dojo. Can I know who you are?"

"I'm Kira Lee."

"Are you competing in the tournament?"

"Yes," the little dog replied with nodding.

"But... no offense, but you look a little young. How old are you exactly?"

At this, the dog looked down with an unsure look. He then just walked away as if Kivuli didn't tell him anything, leaving her confused.

"... Strange kid."

**Author's note: Daito Shun the imposing tiger belongs to my friend SkyBornTickler. Snow Kid and Siax are my own OCs, as well as Kira Lee. Of course, the participants introduced in this chapter are not the only ones we will see in the tournament, but let's just introduce them one at a time, shall we?**

**And finally, Po and the Five (well, only Tigress) appeared in the story. About time, don't you think? Yukan seems to be going along with Po and to dislike Tigress. I wonder why... Oh wait, I'm the author, of course I know why XD**

**The tournament will start in the next chapter. I hope you will all like it and may the gods watch over you all.**


	14. Getting ready for the first phase

"Pay very careful attention, students," Master Shujinko said. "This training could very well change your life one day. So you need to memorize every little detail of it if you are to perfect it."

Two days have passed since the masters of the Frog Dojo signed to participate in the Legendary Tournament. During this time, they worked and trained harder than usual, Shujinko even accepting to make an exception with his training routine to watch over them. They wanted to be ready for the tournament and show how strong their Dojo is. Right now, the old frog made a special training for them on the rooftop. He prepared a special blueberry pie for some reason before getting there and placed the food on the tip of a wooden staff.

"Huh, what is that training exactly supposed to be, Master?" Yukan asked with a curious look.

"Yeah, not that I doubt your training methods, but I never heard about a Kung Fu training requiring a pie on a staff," Kivuli said in agreement.

"Patience, my students," Shujinko said in his usual serene and calm tone. "This training is a creation of mine and requires patience and precision. You see this?" He pointed forward toward a small bridge crossing a river not too far from the Dojo.

"Yes, there's a bridge. What's wrong with it?" Shining Eagle asked.

The old frog lifted a finger to tell them to wait. Which they did for several seconds. Just as Yukan was about to talk again, Shujinko hit the staff with a Karate chop, sending the blueberry pie flying through the air. At the same moment, a male goose walked across the bridge and received the pie right in his face. His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the pie covering his clothes and feathers.

"He! He! He! He!" Shujinko dropped on his back and laughed out loud at the prank he just pulled on the poor civilian. "This never gets old!"

As their master laughed, his four students just blinked their eyes in disbelief. "What kind of... training was that?" Yukan asked.

"How was that supposed to help us being better warriors?" Kivuli asked with rubbing the back of her head.

"Won't that mister be mad?" Shining Eagle asked while making sure that the civilian did not see them.

"I didn't know Master could shoot with such precision," Kodok mumbled with a smile.

After he finished laughing, Shujinko stood up again and wiped a tear away. "Aww, I will never grow tired of pulling that prank up!"

"Master! What was that?!" Yukan asked in a serious tone.

"A little ease up training. It's important to take time to laugh a little in life, young Yukan. Otherwise, you'll have a very sad life," the amphibian explained.

The high tone taken by the sun parrot surprised everyone. "Master! The Legendary Tournament starts tomorrow; we need training, not stupid jokes!"

"Yukan! That's no way to talk to Master!" Shining Eagle said in a scolding tone.

The sun parrot looked at his eagle friend and master before sighing. "I'm sorry, Master. I'm just a bit stressed about the first phase," he said with looking down.

To his surprise, the frog did not scold him, but just walked up and placed his hand on his student's knee with a smile. "Do not worry about this, young Yukan. I understand that you are all nervous. This is the biggest Kung Fu tournament of the decade we are talking about. I expect all of you to give your best tomorrow and show why the Frog Dojo is number one!"

The four masters grinned. They did not plan on disappointing their master in the slightest. Tomorrow, they would show the strength of their Dojo to the Kung Fu community!

* * *

The following day, the masters of the Frog Dojo as well as all the other participants gathered to the place the tournament staff said the first phase was supposed to take place. To their surprise, this location was outside the city. When they arrived, the participants found the location pretty surprising.

A forest. A large forest whose trees reached very high, leaving very little light inside of it. The skirt of the forest was circled by a metal fence with barbwire (probably to prevent intruders from getting inside). This fence had doors with numbers beside them all along it and some of the staff members walked inside with cameras. They were most likely going to place them in right spots all across the forest to broadcast the event on television.

"... What is that forest?" Kodok asked, blinking his eyes in disbelief.

"This is the first phase." All the gathered participants turned their head to see a male elephant stepping out from inside the forest. He wore a golden yellow robe that clearly came from the Imperial Army. However, unlike the actual Imperial Army soldiers they met earlier, this one looked rather calm and peaceful. He still kept a firm and formal pose though with his back straight and his hands held behind his back. "Greetings, dear participants. My name is Nunzio and I will be your referee and instructor for this edition of the Legendary Tournament."

"So, what is our first phase, mister Nunzio?" Yukan asked.

"I was coming to that part," the elephant replied before clearing his throat. "As you probably already guessed by now, this large forest behind will be the zone of the first phase. Before the start of the phase, every participant will be brought to one of the many doors around the forest. At exactly noon, the doors will be open for you all to enter the forest before being closed behind and will remain like this for the rest of the phase."

"After the doors get open, your goal will be to find the victory zone located somewhere inside the forest. There are however two catches. First, to ensure the phase will not be too easy, the staff has filled the forest with traps and obstacles to slow down - and possibly hurt - all of you. And also, there is a time limit: the phase only lasts ten minutes before ending. If you do not make it to the victory zone by that time, you will not make it to the next phase and will be eliminated from the tournament."

"What?!" Kodok exclaimed, his eyes wide open in shock. "We only have ten minutes to find the victory spot in THIS?!"

"Exactly. And one more thing," Nunzio added with giving a glance toward Yukan, Kivuli, and Shining Eagle. "It is forbidden for all the avians who are participating to fly above the forest. Doing so is considered cheating and will cause disqualification."

"Spicing things up I see," Kivuli mumbled. She didn't mind that rule, of course.

"That is all I have to say," Nunzio said. "The only thing I can add is good luck and... be careful in there. We have seen cases of terrible injuries, many times in the past. Trust me, you don't want to suffer the same fate."

Kodok started trembling in fear.

* * *

With the explanations done, the tournament staff took all the participants to one door of the fence each. They made sure to put members of the same Dojo such as Yukan and his friends or Po and the Furious Five far from each other so that they wouldn't be able to team up for this phase. The sun parrot snorted and cracked his neck. "As if I needed my friends to win."

Just then, a loud voice coming through some speakers was heard. _"The first phase of the Legendary Tournament is about to start! Are you ready, participants?"_ His question was met by a wave of cheers and roars from the competitors. _"Very well! Because noon is almost there."_

Yukan cracked his wings. "Time for me to show the whole Kung Fu community what this fire bird is capable of!"

_"Ready... Set... GO!"_

**Author's note: The first phase is starting now, my dear viewers! There's gonna be a lot of action, I can tell you that! Now, you probably already guessed it by now, but this phase is slightly inspired by the Death Forest test from the Chunin Exam in Naruto. Except that, may the gods watch over you all.**


	15. The first phase begins

As soon as the doors in the fence were open, all the participants rushed through them and into the forest, determined to reach the victory zone before the others. Yukan pushed his legs to go as fast as they could. He knew that he couldn't run as fast as the felines participating in the tournament. As for flying... whatever. However, he knew he would have to be careful as to not fall in any of the traps Nunzio mentioned before the phase.

The sun parrot found himself stopping in his tracks and jumped to the side to avoid a web that got shot in his direction. He couldn't help but grin afterward. "Gotta to better than that if you wanna catch this parrot!"

Right after he said that, a male boar came out of nowhere and swung a spiked club at him. Luckily for the avian, the attack was slow and he managed to duck with ease before replying with a good spin kick across the attacker's face, knocking him aside.

"I must admit that you almost got there pal," Yukan said before running off again.

* * *

Shining Eagle flapped her wings, moving between the giant trees and branches in search of the victory zone. "Surely it shouldn't be too hard to find... unless the staff of the tournament decided to put him as far from it as they could." The female eagle then squawked as she found herself flapping up to avoid a giant tree log that came out of nowhere. "What the heck?! Where did that come from?!" Looks like she'll have to be careful, even in the air.

"Move out of my way!"

Barely did she heard that did Shining Eagle found herself getting knocked aside by a darting figure. She lost her balance for a moment, but managed to regain it before she could hit the forest ground. After getting back in her initial position, she stared at whom was responsible for this rude shove. At first, she took it was a male goat before realizing it was actually a male elk.

This elk is pretty small - around the size of a Gongmen antelope guard. He wears old, unassuming, and dirty brown robes over a set of dark brown pants and a red vest. His hooves are wrapped in bright red bandages and has a strange kind of red frill around his neck. Atop his head, he wears a metal helm with holes for his eyes, ears, muzzle and horns to stick through. His horns are a rather impressive tangle.

Shining Eagle watched this elk bounce from one tree branch to the other for a while before shaking her head and flying after him. "Hey!" The elk turned to look at her with a smirk. just then, a web flew out of nowhere and pinned him against a tree. "Darn it!" he groaned in anger.

"Gotta be more careful," Shining Eagle said with a giggle as she flew past him.

However, if she thought she would get rid of him that easily, she was wrong. The elk took two scimitars out of nowhere and slashed through the net with them. This allowed him to charge, bounce onto Shining Eagle's back, and take the lead once again.

"... Just who is that guy?"

* * *

Kivuli swiftly flew across the forest, using her shield to block any trap that came flying at her - arrows, webs, and lodges. So far, nothing in her way slowed her down and she was confident she would find the victory zone soon. She just hoped her friends would be there as well.

However, she soon stopped as she came across an unexpected sight. The little blue and black dog, Kira Lee, stood in the middle of an open area with five participants, two wolves, a cat, and two apes, standing around him. She didn't know what led to this scene, but it looked like they were going to give the poor dog kid a good beat down.

"Hmm, I already have a lot of advance over the others. Guess I could make a quick stop to help this little guy," the martial eagle thought to herself as she dove down toward the six participants.

However, it seemed her help would not be needed. Two wolves swung their swords at Kira Lee from both sides and the little guy jumped to gracefully dodge the blades and pushed both of his paws to the sides, striking the attackers with his palms in the face at the same time. This knocked the two canines back and to the ground, leaving them unable to continue.

Next, one of the apes rose his two fists to crush the little dog who jumped and hit an uppercut under his chin, sending him a good distance away and making him land hard. The cat went for a leg sweep with his arm, which Kira Lee leapfrogged and spin kicked him in the face, a cracking noise indicating he broke his jaw. The little dog finished his combo by dashing at the second ape and hitting both of his little fists into his stomach, making him spit saliva, and sending him crashing hard into a tree.

Kivuli stopped in her tracks and blinked her eyes. "... Okay, maybe this little guy doesn't need help after all."

Kira Lee grinned at how he defeated these five thugs with ease before resuming the phase, running pretty fast with his little legs further into the forest.

Kivuli narrowed her purple eyes. "I better hurry up if I don't wanna end up in second place."

* * *

"JUST HOW MANY TRAPS ARE THERE IN THIS CURSED FOREST?!" Kodok screamed as he ran away from a boulder. Ever since the phase started, he did nothing but running into one trap after the other. He almost got burnt by a jet of fire, pierced by arrows, got caught in a net, and now, found himself about to be crushed by a boulder. Did the universe hold something against him?!

The amphibian used his strong legs to hop off onto a high branch and safe from the giant boulder. As he sighed in relief for his life, he noticed a figure coming out from some bushes. A male tiger whom Kodok recognized as the one who confronted Yukan at the tournament inscriptions. He gasped upon seeing him getting into the boulder's aim.

"WATCH OUT!" Kodok screamed.

Daito stopped walking and turned toward the giant stone rolling toward him. Kodok covered his eyes in fear as he did not want to see the poor feline getting turned into a pancake. However, Daito did not move and merely grinned as he rose his arms forward and created some sort of glowing barrier around him. When the stone made contact with the barrier, it shattered into thousands of little pieces flying everywhere.

When the frog dared to lower his hands from his eyes, he found himself gasping. Where did that barrier come from?! And did it destroy the huge boulder that almost took his life?! As the barrier faded away with Daito lowering his arms, he scoffed as if he just played a fun game and won with no problem. He then turned his attention toward a confused Kodok.

"I don't know what you're doing here, kid, but this competition is not a game. You should go back if you're not ready to die." After saying this, the feline ran away on all fours.

Kodok blinked his eyes a few times. This guy... called him a kid? He thought he didn't belong in this competition? The frog's face turned red.

"I'LL SHOW YOU WHOSE A HELPLESS KID IN THIS COMPETITION!"


	16. The first phase concludes

"Come on! Where's this damn victory zone?!" Yukan impatiently mumbled as he kept running through the forest.

Ever since the first phase started, the sun parrot ran into a total of three other participants, but they were nothing more than tough wannabes he took down in one hit. However, these were the least of his worries for the moment. He should have brought a timer with him. An unknown amount of time has passed since the start of the phase and he still didn't have a clue of the victory zone! For all he knew, there could be five minutes or just thirty seconds remaining. He needed to find that victory zone and quick if he didn't want to get eliminated at the start of the Legendary Tournament!

Just then, Yukan got stopped as something weird passed before him. A ball of black and white crashed right into a bat who flew away and crashed into a tree. The ball in question then turned into a panda who danced in joy. "Oh yes, babe! That's another one taken down by the Dragon Warrior!" He soon stopped his dance, however, upon seeing the sun parrot staring at him and blinking his emerald eyes. "Huh... Hi?"

"Hi," Yukan nonchalantly replied with waving his wing.

Po then took his fighting stance. "Alright, get ready to feel the thunda, Master Sunbird!"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know if you noticed, Dragon Warrior, but the goal of this phase is to find the victory zone in this forest; not taking down as many participants as possible. We already lost a lot of time since the phase begun. What do you say we focus on finding the zone now and fight later on?"

Po dropped his fight stance, rubbing his chin to think about it, and then smiled. "Good idea! If I lose now, I won't be able to face more participants and prove my awesomeness. Let's go!" And with that, the Dragon Warrior and Master Sunbird ran side by side further into the giant forest.

* * *

Shining Eagle found herself in quite the hard spot. After flying around and dodging many traps, she now had to face up with other avian participants. "Why are they all on me?" the female bird asked herself as she spin-kicked a vulture across the face. "... Maybe it's because I'm the daughter of a famous Kung Fu Master and because I train at Master Shujinko's Dojo."

As she blocked an owl's wing strike, Shining Eagle failed to notice a falcon flying behind her, his talons out and ready to cause deep damage to her. However, at the last second, something else collided with his talons, causing a metallic noise and sending sparkles flying in the air. Shining Eagle noticed it and turned her head before smiling. "Kivuli!"

Indeed, the martial eagle saved her friend's life with her Purple Rainmaker before headbutting the falcon in the face, sending him falling to the forest ground. She followed by swinging her sword at the owl's wing, making him share the same fate as the falcon. Smiling in satisfaction, Kivuli turned her attention to her fellow eagle mate and scanned her body to see a few cuts and some feathers missing, but nothing too bad. "Are you okay, Shining?"

"Yeah, thanks for the assist, Kivuli," she replied with a smile. "These guys were about to rip my feathers off!"

"You'll thank me once we're out of this phase and qualified for the next one," the martial eagle replied and pointed her head behind her. "I think I spotted the victory zone before hearing you in difficulty and coming here. Let's go before it's too late!"

Shining Eagle nodded and followed her eagle friend toward the hopeful victory line.

* * *

"Here it is!" Yukan exclaimed as he and Po came out into an open area of the forest. In the middle of this area stood a large round zone marked by a glowing golden line made of some sort of special paint. No doubt; the victory zone! "Great! Looks like we're the first ones here! Let's get in there and-"

WHACK!

A sharp pain pierced through Yukan's cheek as something knocked him to the ground. What the heck?! Placing a wing on his poor cheek, he sat up and saw an orange feline glaring at him with her amber eyes as Po looked shocked. "T-Tigress?!"

"I told you not to let your guard down, Po!" the Tiger Style master said in a scolding tone without looking away from the avian. "He was right beside you and ready to give you a strike in the back!"

"No, no, you don't understand, Tigress!" Po tried to explain. "You see, I was walking in the forest, taking down a bat guy with my Panda Roll technique when-"

TACK!

As Po talked to her, Tigress got distracted long enough for Yukan to kick up and charge for a headbutt right into her face, knocking her to the ground. The feline groaned and rubbed her nose with her paw to see some blood on it.

"Yukan!" Po said in a scolding tone.

"What? She hit me; I hit her back," the sun parrot said with a shrug.

"Guys, this is no time to be fighting!" Po said in an unusually serious tone as he helped Tigress back up. "I don't know how much time we have left, but I'd like to be in the victory zone before the time runs out. So can we just-."

Just then, a figure jumped above the three warriors' heads and landed ahead of them. A small blue and black figure. It was Kira Lee! the little dog did not turn to look at them and just ran straight across the golden line and into the victory zone. _"Kira Lee has passed the first phase!"_ the voice of Nunzio echoed through the speakers of the forest.

"Awww! I wanted the honor of finishing first on this phase!" Yukan angrily groaned.

"Me too...," Po whined.

"We'll think about it later! Let's go!" Tigress said and ran on all fours. Po and Yukan followed her, but due to her feline speed, she crossed the victory zone first. Yukan followed afterwards and Po after him. _"Master Tigress, Master Sunbird, and the Dragon Warrior also passed the first phase!"_ Nunzio announced.

"Yeah! I did it!" Po beamed while panting and throwing a fist in the air. All that running took a lot out of him.

Yukan chuckled a bit before looking out of the zone and all around. He hoped his friends would arrive soon for he did not want to be the only one of his Dojo to make it to the next phase. To his joy and relief, he saw two familiar figures flying down toward his location. "Kivuli! Shining Eagle! Over here!"

"Yukan!" the golden eagle beamed upon seeing her friend.

"He made it before us, the little sneaky guy!" Kivuli said with a grin as she and Shining Eagle landed in the victory zone. _"Kivuli and Shining Eagle passed the first phase!"_ Nunzio announced.

"Nice job, Yukan!" Shining Eagle said as she and her sun parrot friend exchanged a high-five. "Did you make it here first?"

"Nope; he did," Yukan replied with pointing his head toward Kira Lee, who decided to sit down and start meditating.

"That little guy again?" Kivuli asked with blinking her eyes in surprise. "He made it there first? I... wasn't expecting that..."

"Only Kodok is missing now," Yukan said with looking around.

"Say his name and he appears. Look!" Shining Eagle said with pointing a wing in one direction. Following her, Yukan and Kivuli indeed saw their amphibian friend running out into the open area. His body was covered in bruises here and there - either from the traps, participants, or both. But he still had the strength to run. "Kodok! Over here!" Shining called with waving her wings.

"Huh?" Kodok said as he soon noticed his friends. A bright smile then appeared on his face. "The victory zone! I found it!"

"Come on! Hurry up!" Yukan urged him with a smile.

The frog nodded and ran at full speed toward the victory zone. Then, just as he was midway on the path to the zone, a huge sword that looked like a big knife fell out of nowhere and stopped him in his tracks. A huge figure then landed right beside it... and Kodok's jaw dropped. A very tall pig wearing black pants and straps across his torso in an X and a look of malice on his face.

"W-Who are you?" Kodok nervously asked.

"I am the leader of the Blackhoof Boar Clan!" the pig replied as he pulled the giant sword out of the ground. He then pointed it toward the frog. "I will not let you get past this line!"

"We have to help him!" Yukan said as pulled his fists on fire and was about to go help his friend when Nunzio's voice resonated: _"I would like to remind the participants that leaving the victory zone after entering it is considered a forfeit!" _The sun parrot stopped dead in his tracks and then glared up at the sky. "What?! Are you flocking kidding me?!"

Hearing that his friends would not be coming to help him, Kodok started trembling in fear while gazing at the giant pig. "B-But why are you attacking me? The victory zone is right behind you; go through it!"

The Blackhoof Boar Clan Leader chuckled. "Yes, it's true that I could just walk through it and qualify for the next phase. However... I have a better idea in mind. I will stay here and prevent as many participants from entering the zone as I can. That way, it will make things easier for me in the next phases. Less competition, more chance for winning. And besides...," he smirked. "... it's not like a shrimp like you could ever get far in this tournament. It is reserved for the elites of this world; you shouldn't have participated in it to begin with. Now get out of here while I still feel merciful!"

Kodok's body trembled and sweat formed on his skin. He needed to get out of here! He couldn't possibly defeat such a big guy - not without back-up from his friends. He turned around and started running. However, he didn't go far as he tripped on a rock, fell on his face, and dropped his goggles.

The frog looked at his goggles... and then, something turned on inside him.

Kodok left his village because he wanted to become not only a great crafter, but also a respectable and admirable warrior. He promised it to everyone - his friends, his family... Master Shujinko accepted to take him under his care when no other Dojo wanted to. What kind of way would that be thanking them all for their hopes in him if he decided to back down from a fight against a big guy?

The frog's hand curled into a fist. No! He would stand up and fight, no matter what injury he risked to get! He would make his friends proud and pass the first trial! Kodok slowly stood up after grabbing his goggles, pulling them over his eyes, and turned around to face the giant pig with a look of determination which everyone noticed.

"What are you doing, shrimp? You're not planning on fighting me?" the Leader asked with a chuckle.

"No... I'm planning on kicking your fat ass and joining my friends in that zone!" the frog declared with taking his slingshot out.

The other Frog Dojo masters blinked their eyes in surprise. They didn't remember seeing such determination from their amphibian friend in the face of danger. Well, maybe except when they faced the Qidan Clan. But back then, they were there to back him up. This time he was alone. Yukan formed a little smile. "Show us what you can truly do, Kodok..."

"It's your funerals!" the Leader said and ran forward, swinging his big knife sword toward Kodok's position. The frog used his legs to hop off in the air and opened his mouth to strike the giant in the face with his tongue. He then landed on the ground and glared up. "Too slow..."

"You darn...!" the Leader groaned and then swung his sword again, only for the amphibian to duck it and then shoot a bill right in his stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs. Just then, he noticed that many participants came out of the forest and made their way into the victory zone. This reminded him that he needed to get this over with quick or he would be too late to qualify for the next phase.

"I prefer using this in emergency cases, but I don't really have a choice now," Kodok said with taking a bill out of his backpack and pulling it into his slingshot. As the Blackhoof Boar Clan Leader rushed at him, the frog released the string of his slingshot, sending it flying at the pig's face...

BOOM!

The bill exploded in his face, turning it black. The giant pig remained still for a moment before falling on his back with a loud thud. Kodok's yellow eyes widened. He did it. He won against this big guy on his own without needing any help!" YEAH!" he beamed with throwing a fist in the air in joy.

"Kodok!" Kivuli yelled at him. "You'll celebrate later; get in the victory zone now!"

Right. Beating this big guy sure made Kodok happy, but the phase wasn't over yet. He pulled his slingshot away and ran toward the victory zone. Man, he couldn't wait to tell Master Shujinko about what he did! Even though he probably already saw it on TV and-

POOOOW!

Just as Kodok's foot was about to cross the golden line, the sound of a siren echoed throughout the whole forest, stopping him dead in his tracks. Nunzio's voice was then heard through the speakers once again: _"The ten minutes are up! The first phase of the Legendary Tournament is officially over! All the participants who made it in the victory zone will be allowed to participate in the next phase while those who didn't are all out of the tournament! Thanks for your participation!"_

Kodok's joy of beating the Blackhoof Boar Clan Leader faded away. He stared down at his foot hanging right over the other side of the golden line on the ground. His legs started trembling and he collapsed on his knees. Just one second away...

"I... I lost..."

**Author's note: And that concludes the first phase of the Legendary Tournament, my dear friends. I sure hope you enjoyed it and that your favorite made it... even if we haven't seen all those who qualified for the next phase. At least, all the masters of the Frog Dojo passed the phase... except for Kodok.**

**I must say that making Kodok lose was not easy because I like him very much. But I decided that I had to take out at least one of our heroes out by the first phase or it would have been considered favoritism. Also, I didn't want to make a stereotypical underdog story of the guy with no powers overcoming the odds and going far in the tournament. Except that, thanks to all those who still follow this story and may the gods watch over you all.**


	17. The feast

"I'm really proud of you all, my students. You too, Kodok."

Following the first phase of the Legendary Tournament, all the participants who failed packed up their things and left. Which explained why the Valley of Peace's main entrance was so busy that morning. Those who succeeded, however, returned to their respective Dojo or home to celebrate. The masters of the Frog Dojo did the latter. Well, except ONE master.

"Why would you be proud of me, Master? I lost," the amphibian replied with looking sadly at the floor.

"Because you gave your best and fought with honor, Kodok," Shujinko replied. "The way you earn a victory is just as important as the victory itself."

"Except I didn't get any victory. I failed!" Kodok said with clutching his fist really hard. "I failed because I couldn't take that big guy down fast enough. I failed... because I'm not as strong as the others."

"Don't say this, Kodok," Shining Eagle said with putting her wing on her frog friend's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "You did extremely well. I never saw you taking such a big guy down on your own without getting backup from any of us. And besides, I'm sure you would have won if your door had been located closer to the victory zone."

"Wish I could believe that," Kodok mumbled under his breath and looked away.

Shujinko sighed in sadness, knowing that trying to cheer his student up was pointless for now. Therefore, he decided to change the subject. "So, since you have passed the first phase, you are all qualified for the second one which is scheduled to take place in five days. The staff of the tournament sent me this information by message this morning. But in the mean time, we are all invited to attend the Legendary Tournament Feast in two days."

"The Legendary Tournament Feast? What's that?" Yukan asked with a curious look.

"It's a special event that takes place between two phases of the tournament - this time between the first and second," Shujinko explained. "As the name implies, it's a big feast hosted in a location of the tournament's staff's choice where the participants, their masters, and their fellow Dojo comrades can relax, meet each other, learn more about their future opponents, or just have fun. The purpose of this feast is to allow the masters from everywhere to form bonds amongst themselves."

"Sounds cool," Kivuli remarked with a smile on her black beak. "You think there will be a lot of people there?"

"Yes; every time, there are many famous Kung Fu Masters - and even Grandmasters - attending the feast. If you want to meet your idols, it's the place for you to go," Shujinko said with a smile.

"That's wonderful!" Shining Eagle beamed, flapping her wings in joy a bit. "We're gonna have so much fun!"

"I'm not going."

Everyone turned to look at Kodok in surprise. "What are you talking about?" Kivuli asked.

"I'm sorry, guys, but I'm the only one who failed to pass the first phase. I wouldn't fit in such an event. I'm not sure I'll be in the mood to see anybody anyways." The frog then took out his slingshot and started walking away. "I'm gonna go train more."

The four masters looked at each other, all worried and sad for their frog friend. This defeat truly was a punch to his self-confidence.

* * *

The two days passed by with the masters of the Frog Dojo training hard in order to be ready for the next phase. During that time, they attempted to convince Kodok to go to the feast, but their attempts were all fruitless. The invitation said the guests did not have to wear robes or anything fancy for the event. Good thing, because Yukan and Kivuli HATED wearing complicated and uncomfortable dresses. However, Shining Eagle forced her martial eagle friend to accompany her to the spa for a little session ensuring their feathers would be clean and shining too.

"Wow...," Yukan mumbled in amazement.

The Legendary Tournament Feast took place at the Sun Resort Hotel in the Valley of Peace. This hotel was known for hosting many famous encounters between politicians, receiving legendary Kung Fu masters, and even the Emperor himself one time. And upon arriving in the dining hall, Yukan and his friends understood why. The room was huge with tens of different tables being covered by all sorts of food that one would not know where to begin with. The Frog Dojo masters found themselves amongst a large crowd of participants, Kung Fu masters, statesmen, provincial governors, and other high-ranked officials and military agents.

"This place is huge!" Yukan continued.

"And so beautiful!" Shining beamed, stars glowing in her eyes.

Shujinko chuckled at his pupils' reaction. "Indeed, it is quite huge and beautiful. You are free to walk around for the rest of the evening. Go chat, eat, and have fun as you wish." He then rubbed his hands together and walked away. "Now let's go see if they have any mint flavored tea."

The frog's students chuckled a bit. Their master loved tea as much as he loved Kung Fu... maybe even a little more. "Shining Eagle!"

The female avian's golden eyes widened upon hearing this familiar voice. Turning around, she came face to face with a familiar bird figure. "F-Father?!" The male eagle who arrived before her nodded with a smile.

This male golden eagle wears robes of pure white with silver trims and a golden sash around his waist. A pair of metal talons is tied to said sash and a small hoodie accompanies his robes. His body feathers are deep brown in color and the primary flight feathers black at the tips, shifting to black in the middle, and turning white at the base. His black eyes are floating in pools of yellow.

Even Yukan had to admit this avian looked glorious. Upon giving him a deeper look, he soon realized something. "W-Wait a minute! Shining Eagle... your father is... _Master Eagle_?!"

"Yes," Shining Eagle replied with rubbing the back of her head with a wing. "Sorry for not mentioning it before."

Yukan could not believe it. Master Eagle was famous in the Kung Fu community for being one the best - if not THE best aerial master of all time. He fought in countless battles, wars, defeated countless criminals, and currently owned his own Kung Fu school, the Aviation Kung fu Academy, which was considered the best place for any avian to learn martial arts.

"It has been a very long time, Father. How are you?" Shining asked as she turned back to her father.

"I'm doing very well, my daughter. Still running my academy and all. Nice to see you again too, Kivuli." The martial eagle nodded to Master Eagle. He then turned to look at Yukan. "And Master Sunbird, correct? My daughter told me a lot about you."

"She did?" the sun parrot asked with looking at his friend. She rubbed the back of her head and chuckled.

"Yeah, I talked about you in the letters I sent my father since you joined the Frog Dojo..."

"You did very well in the first phase, young one," Master Eagle said with looking down at Yukan. "You too, my daughter. I hope you will all do even better in the following phase."

"Yes... Father," Shining responded, her head hanging low and a somewhat sad look on her face.

Feeling the conversation was getting awkward, Yukan decided to find an excuse to leave. "I'll go... have something to eat. See ya later." He walked away as his friends waved at him. Kivuli decided to go her own way as well, leaving Shining Eagle with her father.

* * *

After remaining with her to discuss a bit, Master Eagle left Shining Eagle to go see other Kung Fu masters and clan leaders. The female avian walked away to the buffet and took herself a slice of honey cake which she munched with her beak. She sighed in sadness. "Am I ever going to make him proud of me?"

"Excuse me? Are you Master Shining Eagle?"

The female avian turned around and was surprised to see a duo of warriors before her. One of them was a female apple-green snake with two lily pads on her head while the other was a yellow monkey with black pants and metal bracelets on her wrists. She quickly recognized them.

"Master Viper and Master Monkey of the Furious Five?!"

"That's us, alright," Monkey said with a smile.

Shining Eagle bowed. "It's an honor to meet you in person. I heard a lot about you and the other masters of the Jade Palace."

"We're honored too," Master Viper said with a smile. "May I say that your feathers look lovely?"

"Oh, thanks," the golden eagle said with a cute blush. "Your scales look pretty good too."

Viper giggled a bit. "I made sure to clean them to perfection before coming here. Hey, our friends and I are sitting at a table not far from here. Do you wanna join us? Master Shifu and the Dragon Warrior are there. You can bring your friends too if you want."

Shining Eagle blinked her golden yellow eyes a few times before rubbing the back of her head. "Huh, thanks for the invitation, Master Viper... but I don't think this would be a good idea."

"Why's that?"

"Well, you see, my friend, Yukan Tori, doesn't like the masters of the Jade Palace... He even outright hates you..."

* * *

Meanwhile, Yukan helped himself at the buffet, eating pretty much anything that looked delicious. To his joy, the food was a pure delight and he even managed to find some spiced pastas, his favorite meal! As he munched on the tasty food, the avian felt something tapping his shoulder and turned around to see a familiar face.

"Hey, Yukan," Po greeted with a smile.

"Po. You came," Yukan said with a smile. "Though I should've guessed it because there's plenty of free food... and you like food, right?"

"I sure do! I'm the biggest eater you'll find around the Valley of Peace. And even across all of China!" Po beamed with enthusiasm. "Speaking of which, I brought some food from my own restaurant for the event. Wanna taste it?"

"Sure, why not," Yukan said and followed the panda to a large cooking pot filled with a liquid that produced steam. Just smelling it caused water to rise into the sun parrot's beak. "This smells delicious. What is it?"

"My father's Secret Ingredient Soup," the panda replied with filling a bowl for his friend. "Try it; you're gonna fall in love." Taking the bowl, Yukan used a pair of chopsticks offered to him by his panda friend to slip some of the noodles into his beak... and his eyes widened. "So? What do you think?"

In an instant, Yukan started pulling the whole soup into his beak, eating like it would be his last time ever. He swallowed everything in one shot and sighed happily. "This. Is. The. Best. Food. EVER!"

Po chuckled a bit at this. "Believe me, you're not the first one telling me this after tasting the soup, man."

"Can I have more?" Yukan asked with holding his now empty bowl.

"I would like to have some too, Dragon Warrior."

Yukan turned around to see Master Shujinko approaching him. Someone accompanied him. A male red panda wearing maroon robes and with large ears using a wooden staff to walk. Yukan's joy instantly faded away. "Not him..."

"M-Master Shujinko?!" Po exclaimed in surprise. "Of the Frog Dojo?! The hero of the Dragon Wars?! Oh my gosh, I'm a fan!"

"Oh, but I assure you it is an honor for me to meet the hero who saved our beautiful city from Tai Lung too," the old frog said with a chuckle. He then looked at his student. "Yukan, may I present to you the leader of the Jade Palace, Grandmaster Shifu."

"Master Sunbird, right?" the red panda asked as he stepped forward and bowed. "I have heard about everything you did since joining the Frog Dojo. I must say I am impressed that you managed to defeat the Qidan Clan with your fellow masters. The Qidan King has never been defeated in singles match before."

"... Thanks," the avian replied without any trace of gratefulness or joy in his voice.

"Grandmaster Shifu has invited us to share a table with him to discuss and build camaraderie between the Jade Palace and the Frog Dojo," Shujinko said with a smile.

"Thanks, but I'd like to stay up for a while," Yukan denied.

"Yukan, you can't deny an invitation from a Grandmaster," Shujinko said in a scolding tone. He then turned toward the red panda and bowed. "My students and I will be honored to join you for the feast."

**Author's note: Did you guess that Shining Eagle was the daughter of Master Eagle? Did you? No? Oh.**

**Yukan and his friends will properly meet Shifu, the Furious Five, and the Dragon Warrior in the next chapter. Perhaps we will learn why Yukan acts so cold toward Tigress and Shifu, but not Po?**

**Do not worry for the other characters who participate in the tournament: we will see them in the next chapter too. Until then, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	18. The feast part 2

**Author's note: Before we start this new chapter, I would like to say that I hope you, my friends, have all spent a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family. 2019 was a pretty hard year for me, but I keep my hopes up for a great 2020! And I wish the same to all of you.**

After accepting Master Shifu's invitation to join his table, the masters of the Frog Dojo were now sitting down with the masters of the Jade Palace, enjoying their delicious meal. Everything was going well so far, the conversations being lively and everyone participating in. Well, everyone except Yukan who did not say anything since his friends and he joined the Jade Palace masters, doing nothing but eating and giving the occasional nod.

"So, did you all qualify for the next phase?" Shining Eagle asked.

"Not all of us," Po replied. "Only Tigress, Crane, Viper, and myself qualified. Monkey and Mantis couldn't find the victory zone in time."

"I tell you; it's because this tournament's staff placed us too far from it!" Mantis said in protest. "Had they given us a different door, we would have definitely qualified!"

"A Kung Fu master must be ready for anything in any condition, Master Mantis," Shifu interrupted him. "If you failed the tournament's first phase, you have no one to blame but yourself."

"Come on, guys. It's not that bad," Po said, trying to cheer his friends up.

"Easy for you to say; we'll have to wait another ten years before having the chance to participate again," Monkey said with a disappointed look.

"And everyone will mock us for failing to pass the first phase," Mantis added.

"I'm sorry," Shining Eagle said with compassion. "One of our friends failed as well; he too didn't take it very well. That's why he did not attend the feast with the rest of us."

"So, is Master Golden Cat still training at your Dojo?" Master Crane asked.

"You mean Mei Ling? Indeed she is, Master Crane," Shujinko answered before taking a sip from his tea cup. "She told me a lot about you after joining my Dojo. Is it true that you both trained together at Lee Da prior to changing Dojos?"

"Yes, Master Shujinko," the avian master confirmed. "In fact, Mei Ling is the one who convinced me to get into Kung Fu in the first place. Has she not been there, I would have never become a master..."

"Wow, looks like the flame of your old crush hasn't died, right, Crane?" Mantis asked with a snicker which got shared by Monkey. The two friends were almost immediately silenced by glares from Crane and Master Viper.

"Tell me, Master Tigress," Kivuli then said to the feline master, "is it true that your arms are stronger than steel? I heard rumors about it."

The orange feline took a sip from a cup of tea before handing one arm toward the avian. "Check for yourself."

The martial eagle poked at the orange arm with her feather tips and blinked her purple eyes. "... Wow, they really are strong." She then gave a little smile on her beak. "I hope I'll get the chance to face you during one of the following phases."

"You shouldn't try to eat more than you can chew, martial eagle," Tigress replied with a smirk of her own.

"There's a smell of rivalry in the air, huh?" Mantis asked toward Yukan who replied with a mere nod and kept eating his noodle soup.

The Jade Palace masters blinked their eyes at the sun parrot's attitude. Ever since they came to eat together, he didn't take part in the conversations and mostly ate and drank. Tigress remembered how he left after she came to see him and Po during the tournament's inscription time and Viper knew that he didn't like them because Shining Eagle told her just a few moments ago. Visibly, this avian had a problem with the masters of the Jade Palace, but they didn't know what.

"... So, that's a fun feast, right?" Monkey asked, trying to get Yukan to talk.

"Yeah..."

Monkey exchanged a glance with Viper who decided to try her own turn. "Po's noodle soup is delicious, don't you think? It's the best one in all of China."

"I guess..."

The two friends exchanged a look again and this time, Monkey grabbed a bottle of ketchup on the table. "Hey, you imagine if I decided to drink all this ketchup bottle by myself? Gulp, gulp, gulp!" he pretended drinking and laughed a bit. Yukan, however, did not look interested.

"Well, that wouldn't be nice for the next people who will come to sit down here."

Monkey gave up. Yukan did not want to talk to them and that was final. Seeing this, Shifu decided to try - maybe his reaction to a Grandmaster, and the late Oogway's own pupil, would be different. "So, I heard you have recently joined Master Shujinko's Frog Dojo?"

"Yup," Yukan replied after swallowing his noodles.

"And you are from Japan, correct?"

"Yes, from Riho Village."

"Can you tell us more about this village?" the red panda politely asked.

Yukan's emerald eyes suddenly looked at the Grandmaster with an expression similar to that of someone who received an insult. "Tell you about my village? You want me to talk about a little village with nothing interesting about it?" he asked with an almost insulted and rebelled tone.

Grandmaster Shifu was unsure on how to respond. "Hum, well, yes?"

Yukan let out an exasperated sigh and then looked at Shujinko. "Look, can we just go, Master?"

Having had enough, Po finally decided to speak. "Aw, come on, Yukan! Can't you see my friends are trying really hard here?"

"Who asked them to try?" Yukan asked back in a rather dry tone.

"No one," Crane said. "We're just trying to be nice to you, but you keep rejecting us and you won't say why. Why are you acting so hostile toward us? Did we do something that insulted you?"

Yukan just stared at the master of Crane Style with his eyes half-closed. "So this is what it's all about? You guys wanna know what I hate you?"

"Yes."

Yukan looked at all the Jade Palace masters minus Po. "Are you sure you wanna hear my mind? It's pretty personal and could hurt your feelings."

"Go ahead," Master Tigress said, finally joining in the conversation. "We, masters of the Jade Palace, are more than capable of taking criticism. Besides, I'd like to hear if your reasoning is justified."

Yukan sighed. "Very well, you've been warned. Here I go." He took a deep breath and started talking.

"You guys are the worst people I know. A Kung Fu fan who has nothing but admiration for you comes up to your palace and how do you treat him? You beat him up and kick him out as fast as he came!"

"Come on, I know it was wrong, but he still did enter without permi-" Mantis tried to explain.

"That's not a freakin' justification! What's next? You're gonna slap a little girl if she comes up to you and ask for a cup of tea? And to add insult to injury, when the guy finally gets a chance to follow his dream and start training in Kung Fu, you try to bully him into giving up and go back to his job as a noodle seller! Kung Fu masters are supposed to encourage weaker people into wanting to become better; not the other way around!"

The Jade Palace masters couldn't help but either look away or rub the back of their heads as they remembered what the sun parrot was talking about. "Come on, Yukan," Po decided to step in. "You're being too harsh; I'm not mad-"

"Po, please, let me finish what I have to say," the sun parrot cut him off. "I'll listen to what you have to say after I'm done." He then turned his attention back to Shifu and the Five. "You guys have the guts to walk around this city and lecture everyone on Kung Fu and honor after you brought more shame and dishonor to our art than most criminals I now."

"Hey, hey, wow, I think you're a bit overreacting on this point, pal," Mantis said.

"Oh, am I?" Yukan sarcastically asked. "Let's talk about you, Master Mantis." He started talking in a mocking tone. "He's so fat that when he walks, the whole earth starts trembling." He then gave an angry glare at the bug. "Well, who are you to mock people's size, shrimp?! You're so small that most people don't realize you're here until you talk to them! And you're in no position to mock anybody's appearance either; you look like the result of a spider having sex with a green grape - and I'm not even talking about your weird antennas and crab pincers! Next time you wanna mock Po for his weight, look at yourself and shut your big - or should I say small - mouth!"

Mantis blinked his eyes a few times before looking down in shame. While there was some truth to what Yukan just said, the others thought he was being harsh on the bug. "Hey, Mantis did not mock Po's weight for a very long time. Don't judge him for being small!" Monkey decided to take his friend's defense.

Yukan let out a scoff. "Cause you think you can lecture me about mocking people, Master Monkey? Well, let me tell you something; you're not better than your bug friend. You mocked Po just as much as him, and all the others for that matter, when he joined your palace. But who are you to laugh at him or anybody? May I remind you that you grew up in the streets where everybody always laughed at you because you kept losing your pants? But what bothers me the most about you, Master Monkey, is that you go around thinking that you're this funny guy who makes everybody laugh. Well, you're not; nobody's laughing at your jokes - they're immature and childish! Don't come whining if everybody in your palace ends up getting married, except you!"

Monkey just blinked his eyes a few times before looking down sadly. As much as he hated to admit it, it was true that he didn't have that much success with girls. His comrades constantly scolded him for his immaturity... but they never did it in such a harsh way.

"Don't you think you're going too far, Yukan?" Viper asked with a frown.

The sun parrot sighed. "Look, Master Viper, except Po and the late Grandmaster Oogway, you're the only Jade Palace master I respect. That's because you're very kind and generous." The avian then gave a small frown. "Which brings me to this question: why didn't you stand up for Po when your master and comrades were bullying him? You could have told the other Five members that they were being horrible at their job. Or better yet, you could have gone to Shifu, slapped him in the face, and told him that what he was doing was perfectly dishonorable and against everything Kung Fu is standing for! Why didn't you do anything?"

The snake blinked her turquoise eyes a few times before looking a bit guilty. "Well, it's true that the others weren't very kind to Po at first. And he had nothing to do with it. But do you really think slapping anybody would have made things better?"

"Better than doing nothing."

"Stop talking to her like that! She's not responsible for what happened," Crane decided to defend his reptile friend.

"You're right, so how about we stop talking about her and start talking about one of the responsible ones, Master Crane?" Yukan asked, his voice once again filled with disgust. "I've heard a lot of talking about you, the Master of Crane Style from the Furious Five who is said to be amongst the most kind-hearted masters you can find in China." The sun parrot frowned. "Then how is it that your actions say otherwise?"

"What are you talking about?" Crane asked with a confused look.

"Oh, please! Everybody knows that you opposed Po joining the Jade Palace simply because he was a commoner and a noodle seller." Yukan then tossed his wings in the air. "What the heck do you have against noodle selling?! That's a perfectly honest and respectable job! As much as being a janitor!" He pointed an accusing feather at Crane. "And for the record, being a master doesn't give you the right to look down on anyone. Mei Ling told me that you have been a janitor at Lee Da for five years before finding the guts to stand up and become a Kung Fu student. Five freakin' years! Po did not hesitate taking his chance for a second and his determination alone could have allowed him to become a master of the Bear Style. What's YOUR excuse? You have, what, over ten years of Kung Fu experience? But even then, you're nothing more than a skilled aerial fighter - and a despicable one at that. Next time you wanna look down on Po or any commoner for that matter, remember that you used to be bullied for having skinny legs!" He rubbed his eyes with his feathers. "I'm glad Mei Ling did not come to participate in this tournament: she would have been heartbroken to see her childhood friend has turned into a total dick!"

Everyone just kept silent the whole time, not daring interrupting the sun parrot's speech. The other avian master just stared blankly at him for a moment before lowering his head, covering his face with his hat and his beak pointing at the floor. This made the others understand that Yukan had hit a sensitive spot. After a moment of silence, he turned his gaze toward the only Furious Five member he didn't not roasted so far.

"And now, for the one I was the most impatient to get to," Yukan said as he looked at Master Tigress. "Leader of the Furious Five and favorite pupil of Grandmaster Shifu, Master Tigress. The perfect embodiment of what a Kung Fu master should NOT be!"

Some of the masters backed away a bit, knowing that pissing Tigress of wasn't a good idea, but the sun parrot seemed more than ready to do it. "You're thinking this because of the way I treated Po at first?" the feline asked with a small glare. "Listen up, I already apologized for it and Po forgave me; it's behind us now. I know I made a mistake, but I learned from it and I'm a better master because of it now, Sunbird."

"Oh, are you really a better master, Master Tigress?" Yukan asked with a hint of sarcasm. "You gotta excuse me, but it's hard to believe that someone who tried to break a good guy's dream simply to satisfy her selfishness can ever become a good master or person for that matter." Yukan pointed an accusing feather at Tigress just like he did with Crane. "A person obsessed with Kung Fu to the point that she neglected her own friends and have the guts to still call them her family!"

Tigress growled a bit at the avian's words. "Well, yes, that's what I did! I'm not a perfect master, it's no big deal! No one can ever be!" she defensively said.

Yukan let out a mocking chuckle. "Not only are you not the perfect master, but you're the total opposite of it. I don't care that you pushed the Tiger Style of Kung Fu to perfection or that you trained to the point your arms became hard like steel. There's no point in having strong skills if you're not using them for good causes! Having strong skills is horrible when you're using them for selfishness and for bullying!"

"I already told you that I never bullied anyone again after Po became the Dragon Warrior!" Tigress defended herself. "And you should watch what you're saying; I never once in my life used Kung Fu for any selfish purposes."

"Oh yeah? Then what about that time you guys went on a mission that could have possibly led to Po finding out about his origins, but you forced him to stay behind and went after the criminal with the other Five by yourselves?" Yukan asked with placing his fists on his hips.

"That was because Po's judgement was blinded by this fact; it could have led to him letting his guard down and getting killed! I couldn't allow this!"

"I. Don't. Give. A. DAMN!" Yukan shouted back. "If Po wants to put his life on the line, that's HIS choice to make, not YOURS! You're lucky that Po is such a nice guy; if you had tried to get in my way, I would have made myself a pleasure to break your darn neck!" He then took a mocking feminine voice. "I can stand you questioning my authority, but here, you're under my responsibility, so this is no up to discussion! Think before addressing your superior!" Yukan then talked normally again, tossing his wings toward Tigress. "My god, you're pretentious! No one gives a damn about an arrogant brat's authority!"

Upon hearing this, many heads turned around toward the table, listening to the conversation going on. Many were surprised to see the new master making a stand against the Jade Palace masters of all people.

Tigress' growl became louder and she seemed ready to jump on the parrot to tear him apart. "Don't talk to me like this, parrot! You might be okay with your friends getting killed, but I'm not! You have no idea what it's like to be a leader."

However, Yukan did not let himself get intimidated and got very close to the feline's face. "You don't know me! Neither do you know Po or anyone else for that matter! You're stuck in your little Kung Fu world where nothing but Kung Fu and discipline matters. Well, sorry to break your hardcore walls, but there are other things in life that matters as well. Family and friends matter too! Of course, I wouldn't expect you to understand; after all, you grew up in an orphanage with not a single person wanting you. And after this, you got raised by this heartless master," he said with pointing at Shifu, "who never showed you the slightest bit of love! As a result, today, you have become a brick wall!"

Upon hearing this, Tigress' expression softened a bit. The others were shocked that Yukan would have the guts to openly insult Master Tigress, but they never thought he would manage to make her look so weak and... sad.

"You see, that's what bothers me the most about you, Master Tigress," Yukan continued in a low tone. "Trying to crush Po's dream, hating on him for no reason, acting like an arrogant brat toward your own comrades, I could forgive all of it... if you were not such a brick wall. That's the truth, Master Tigress. You are nothing but a pitiful, pathetic, sad, and empty brick wall."

After finishing his long speech, Yukan took a deep breath and exhaled softly. As much as he wanted to brash against Shifu too, doing so with a Grandmaster in such a place probably wouldn't be a good idea. And besides, he was already tired from the long talk he just did. Looking at the Five's expressions, he could tell that what he said did indeed hurt them... but he wouldn't feel guilty for it. He warned them and told them the truth.

"I'm going to sleep now," Yukan said with standing up and handing his noodle soup bowl back to Po. "Thanks for the invitation..."

After the sun parrot left the feast, an awkward silence settled between the Frog Dojo and Jade Palace masters. "I think we should go too. Thanks for the invitation," Shining Eagle said and left alongside Kivuli.

Not too long after, Master Shujinko sighed sadly and pulled his finished tea cup down. "Please pardon my pupil's reaction. That's just the way he is. I thank you for this enjoyable night." And with that, he left the feast too.


	19. The second phase begins

**Author's note: Another chapter so soon after the previous one, you say? It's true that I usually take quite some time between two chapters, but hey, I'm on holiday vacations! This means I have more free time and I can work more on my stories here!**

**Also, before we start this new chapter, I'd like to remind you something I mentioned at the beginning of this story. I'm adding a lot of small details and other easter eggs in each of my chapters that serve as clues for big elements that will happen much later on. As such, I'm encouraging you to come up with speculations or theories. Believe me, there's nothing like keeping a theory for a long time and have it being confirmed.**

**Last thing; it's time for the second phase and it's gonna be longer than the first one. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)**

A few days passed following the Legendary Tournament's annual feast during which the participants either prepared themselves for the next challenge, relaxed, or both. And eventually, the day of the second phase arrived. Unlike the first one which took place outside the city, the second one was set to take place in the Jade Palace Coliseum Arena, the biggest arena in all the Valley of Peace which hosted many Kung Fu-related events in the past.

As they were led inside, the remaining participants who passed the first phase arrived into a huge circular arena with many stands which were all empty and two sets of stairs leading to a platform with a security barricade that overlooked the open area. The Imperial soldiers gathered the participants in a line with all of them standing side by side. They now waited for the information about the next phase to be given to them.

Since nothing happened for many minutes, Yukan decided to look around and see who were the remaining participants. Except for Shining Eagle, Kivuli, and himself, there was Po, Master Tigress, Master Viper, Master Crane... and a whole bunch of other participants Yukan didn't know. He did recognize some of them from the last moments of the first phase, but he didn't know their names or anything about their fighting skills.

"Attention, everyone!" the participants looked up as Nunzio, the referee/instructor they met before the first phase, crossed one of the arena's doors and walked before all of them, still holding his head high and his arms on his back. "First of all, allow me to congratulate you all for making it to the second phase of the Legendary Tournament. I can tell you the number of participants who failed is very high."

Yukan couldn't help but look down with sadness as he thought about Kodok and how his lost affected him. Sure, during the days following the feast, he did get back t his cheery self, but failing the first phase of the biggest Kung Fu tournament China truly did leave a mark on him.

"Anyways, welcome to the second phase of the Legendary Tournament," Nunzio continued. "You need to know that while the first phase was to test your speed as well as your abilities to adapt to a new environment, the second phase will test your fighting skills."

Upon hearing this, Master Tigress' interest perked up.

"Indeed, the second phase will see each of you facing one another in one on one duels with the winners of said duels moving on to the third phase. The rules for the matches are simple: your opponent and yourselves fights with everything you have until one of you is either incapacitated or decides to give up the match." The elephant then pointed a finger at the participants and started counting them. "Let's see... There is a total of sixteen participants. This means there will be eight matches for this phase."

"That's awesome!" Po beamed with throwing a fist in the air. "Who's gonna start?"

"Patience, Dragon Warrior. We're getting to that part," Nunzio replied and pointed his trump toward a screen planted high on the arena's wall. "This screen will randomly pick two participants. When you see your name appearing on the screen, you come down in the arena and get to fight. Now, without any further due, let us discover what the pair for the first match will be." After Nunzio said this, the screen turned on and all the participants' names started passing across the screen at a tremendous speed.

All the participants' gazes were fixed on the screen. They were holding their breath, waiting to see who would get to start the second phase with some of them hoping to face the strongest ones and others hoping they would land on an easy shot. Then, after many seconds that felt more like minutes, the screen stopped and revealed the two chosen ones.

_Dragon Warrior Po Ping vs Enzokhule_

"I get to start first? Awesome!" Po beamed, tossing his two fists in the air.

"The two whose names are on the screen may stay down in the arena. All the others, go up the platforms around the arena's walls to watch the fight," Nunzio instructed with pointing his trump at said platforms and everybody minus Po and his opponent did so, walking up the stairs.

Yukan, Shining Eagle, and Kivuli stood side by side which the Jade Palace masters also did while the others simply spread around, taking their own spots. "Time to see what you're capable of, Po," the sun parrot mumbled.

"This should be interesting," Daito mumbled with crossing his arms and resting against the arena's wall. Kira Lee was not too far from him, climbing up on the security barricade to get a better view.

"Think this flabby panda is as strong as the stories say he is?" Snow Kid asked Siax, his black cat partner.

She responded with a shrug. "If he truly managed to defeat Tai Lung, then I suppose he must be more than a capable fighter."

"Good luck, Po!" Crane shouted.

"We're counting on you!" Viper added while Tigress just crossed her arms and gave her panda friend a nod of approval.

Po gave them a thumb up before looking at his opponent who was a male blue falcon. His wings, head, and tail feathers were dark blue while his belly and back were white with a few black spots. His beak and talons were golden, just like the facial expressions around his emerald eyes, and his dress consisted of slightly dirty brown trousers held by a rope tied around his waist. In addition, white bandages were wrapped around the "wrists" of his wings, a spiked club was tied to his back, and some sort of hatchet was lodged between his shorts and the rope.

"So you are the Dragon warrior?" the blue falcon asked.

"I sure am, pal!"

The raptor suddenly planted his wing curled into a fist in the palm of his other one and bowed. "It's an honor to meet you in person, Dragon Warrior. Please, accept me as your student once our duel is over."

Po blinked his eyes at the blue falcon's demand. "... You want me... to take you as my student?"

"Yes. I traveled all the way from Africa to get here and meet you. I have no doubt that you are the best suited one to complete my martial arts training," Enzokhule said. "My name is Enzokhule, but please, call me Enzo."

"Listen, Enzo, I'm flattered that you want me as your teacher... but I've known Kung Fu for only a year now. I don't think I'm ready to take a student under my wing yet," Po explained with adjusting his rice hat on his head. Yukan just took notice of his new accessory now.

"I respect your decision. But please, reconsider it after our duel," Enzo demanded.

Nunzio cleared his throat to get both fighters' attention. "The first match of the second phase is about to start. Any objection?"

"Nope."

"Not a single one."

"In that case, let the match... BEGIN!"

Po found himself yelping as Enzo flapped his wings to charge at tremendous speed and went for a dive kick which the panda somehow managed to block with his arm. However, the raptor did not stop there and unleashed a storm of punches upon the Dragon Warrior who found himself forced to step back to avoid the violent blows.

"Is that kickboxing or something?" Crane asked.

"It looks like it, but looks somewhat different," Tigress remarked, her eyes never leaving the fight. "This falcon sure is aggressive from what I can see."

"Don't worry about it," Viper said with a positive smile. "Tai Lung was even more aggressive, but Po still managed to take him down, right?"

Back in the fighting zone, Po got tired of being on the defensive and decided to go on the offensive. Ducking a right from Enzo, he fought back with a good belly slam that knocked the avian back, but didn't make him lose his balance for more. However, instead of being shocked, the blue falcon just smiled. "You managed to block and dodge all my blows before knocking me back with ONE hit? You're up to your reputation, Dragon Warrior."

Po smiled. "Well, thanks for remarking it, Enzo. I trained a lot to master-OH MY GOSH!" In a split-second, the panda found himself ducking to avoid the hatchet launched at him by the blue falcon. Before the weapon could hit the arena's wall, Enzo pulled at a bandage tying his wing to his hatchet, bringing it back into his waiting wing.

"And you have good reflexes too," he remarked with a chuckle.

Po placed a paw on his chest to recover from the shock before giving a glare. "Alright! No more Mr. Nice Guy! It's time for you to feel the THUNDA!"

The bear started running toward Enzo who attempted to welcome him with a good roundhouse kick. Po managed to duck it at the last moment and performed a leg sweep which knocked Enzo on his back and jumped surprisingly high despite his weight. "Watch out! Here comes the PANDA QUAKE!"

Enzo widened his emerald green eyes and rolled out of the way in time to avoid getting turned into a pancake. By the time Po got back up from his failed attack, the blue falcon delivered a right hook to his jaw followed by a bicycle kick to his chest that knocked him back a bit. "Are you crazy?! You almost squashed me there!"

"We're not exactly here for exchanging hugs, are we, pal?" Po asked with adjusting the rice hat on his head. Enzo frowned and charged to deliver a dive kick right across Po's face, stunning him long enough to follow with a series of punches to the panda's torso.

"Things don't look good for Po," Shining Eagle said with a worried look. "His attacks are too slow and Enzo is much faster. If this continues, I don't think he's gonna win."

"I wouldn't say that, Shining," Yukan said with a smile on his black beak.

"What do you mean?" the golden eagle asked with a curious look.

"From what I've seen, Po is a warrior who finds his strength in motivation. And right now, he's participating in the most important tournament in our country. This alone must give him plenty of strength and energy for this sole fight," Yukan explained. "Though I doubt Enzo has the same level of motivation."

"I agree," Tigress said from her spot on the platform. "Po's methods can seem dumb and devoid of any logic, but he's actually very wise."

Back in the fighting zone, Enzo finished his punch combo and grabbed his spiked club in his wing which he swung at the panda. This last one managed to recover from his diziness in time to duck the potentially deadly blow. He then grabbed the blue falcon's leg and started spinning before tossing him right into the arena's wall.

"ARGH!" Enzo groaned and held his back in pain. "Forgive me, Dragon Warrior, but I came all the way here to prove my worth; I cannot just lose like this!" Pushing a battle cry, he grabbed his spiked club in his talons and took off in the air for a diving attack toward the panda.

However, Po did not look intimidated in the slightest and even smirked. Instead of running or moving out of the way, he changed his stance, sucking his belly in, pulling his back back. Tigress widened her eyes as she realized something. "He's not gonna...?!"

He did. Just as Enzo came close enough, Po delivered a good belly smash that sent him flying upward for him to hit the ceiling, just like he did with Tai Lung. The avian smacked the ceiling and then started falling down, crashing to the arena floor with a loud thud. Seeing as he did not stand up for twenty seconds after this, Nunzio decided to check on him.

"Is he okay?" Po asked in worry.

Nunzio waited for a few seconds before looking at the panda. "The damage participant Enzokhule just took is too much for him to continue. As a result, I have no choice but to give the victory to the Dragon Warrior, Po Ping!"

"Skadoosh!" Po said with a big grin and tossed his fists in the air.

"He did it!" Viper beamed brightly and jumped.

"Attaboy, Po!" Yukan cheered for his panda friend as well.

"I've gotta admit his fighting style is unorthodox, but nonetheless useful," Daito said with a little chuckle.

Po was about to go back to his friends on the platform, but stopped to look at Enzo getting carried away by the medical team. "I'll think about taking you as my pupil, okay?"

**Author's note: Po is the first one to qualify for the third phase. But you all saw it coming, didn't you?**

**Believe it or not, but I wasn't sure about who I wanted to put Po against. Yesterday, I watched an African animated movie called "Adventures In Zambezia" whose protagonist is a blue falcon. This gave me the inspiration for the character of Enzokhule. His fighting style is called Dambe, which ****is an ****African martial art focused primarily on boxing but also uses kicking techniques.**

**His hatchet weapon is called a Nzappa zap hatchet, which is a ceremonial weapon used in Congo. His other weapon is a traditional spike club; I got the idea from a fighting video game character that I actually like: Kai from Mortal Kombat.**

**One fight done, seven to go. The second phase is only beginning!**


	20. Cute and strong

After Enzokhule got carried away by the medical team, Po left the fighting zone to go up the platform and join his friends. They gave him a warm welcome. "That was a great fight, Po!" Crane said.

"I knew you were going to win!" Viper added with patting his shoulder on the shoulder with her tail.

"I agree," Yukan said with a nod and a smile. "You totally assured back there."

"Oh, you know, I just had to give him some of my Panda Awesomeness and all that!" Po said with giving punches and kicks everywhere, making the others chuckle.

"But are you going to take him as your student?" Tigress asked.

"What?"

"This boy asked you to accept to take him as your student after your duel would be over. Now that it's done, are you planning on taking him?" Tigress repeated with crossing her arms.

"Oh... huh, well, I don't know," the panda replied with rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, he's strong and he's got a lot of potential, there's no doubt... but I never trained anyone before... so I don't know..."

"Just take the time to think about it, Po. After this, give him your answer when you have the time," Viper told him.

"Attention to all the participants!" Nunzio called. "We are now going to see who are the fighters for the second match!" He pointed his trump to the screen which started rolling all the names of the remaining participants. Once again, everyone (except Po) was eager to see who would get to fight next.

_Master Siax vs Xan Pan_

The black cat dressed in golden robes with lime dragon patterns immediately jumped from her spot and landed gracefully in the fighting zone. "Have fun, Siax!" Snow Kid called to her.

Her opponent was a male ox with metallic boxing gloves on his fists. "This should be interesting," Yukan remarked. "I can't wait to see what these folks can do."

"This match won't last long."

Yukan and Shining Eagle turned to look at Kivuli who looked more serious than usual. "What makes you say that?" Yukan asked her. "I have no doubt that this Siax girl must be strong, but Xan Pan looks good too."

"It's very simple," the martial eagle replied. "Master Siax is from the Magic Kung Fu School and this Xan Pan guy seems to be relying on nothing but brute strength like most other participants. This puts a huge difference between them in terms of experience."

Yukan rose a curious eyebrow at this statement. "The Magic Kung Fu School? What's that?"

"What?!" Shining Eagle suddenly exclaimed. "How can you not have heard about it? It's one of the - if not THE - most known Kung Fu Dojos in all of China! Some of the greatest Masters in history studied there."

"Hey, hey, wait!" the sun parrot said with rising his wings in defense. "I remind you that I'm from Japan. And besides, when I had to choose a Dojo here, I took one that wasn't too far from my previous home. That's why I took the Frog Dojo. But anyways, tell me more about this Magic Kung Fu School."

"The match is over!"

The Frog Dojo masters froze and turned to look at the fighting zone. To their surprise, Master Siax stood with her head high over a Xan Pan, whose face was bruised, like he received a rock in it. "Master Siax wins the second match and qualifies for the next phase!" Nunzio announced.

"WHAT?!" Yukan, Shining Eagle, and Po exclaimed all at once.

"What happened?! I didn't see anything!" Yukan said.

"T-That... was AWESOME!" Po beamed. "Xan Pan wanted to attack Siax when the match started, but she just gave him one punch in the face and it's over! It's almost like her arms are as strong as Tigress'!" He then gasped. "You think they are?"

"I don't know. But one thing's for sure; these masters of the Magic Kung Fu School are not to be taken lightly," Tigress answered as Siax jumped back to her previous spot on the platform and went to rest against the wall again, as if nothing had happened.

"Nice job, Siax. That guy did not stand a chance," Snow Kid praised her.

"Hm-hm. I'm expecting you to do the same," the black cat replied.

The yeti frowned. "Stop showing-off! You got lucky to get a weak opponent! I'll show you what I can do in the next fight!"

"Without any further ado," Nunzio said to get everyone's attention again, looking to the side as Xan Pan got carried away by the medical team and still surprised that the fight finished so quickly, "we are moving on to the third match of the second phase. Let us find out who will participate in it." As he said that, the screen started rolling with the remaining names again.

"Let it be me! Let it be me!" Snow Kid whined. "I wanna fight!"

"There are good chances it's gonna be one of us," Kivuli remarked. "Already two matches out of eight and none of us have fought yet. They say third time's a charm."

_Kira Lee vs Master Viper_

"... Or not."

"Awesome!" Po beamed. "It's your time to shine, Viper! Show them the strength of the Viper Style of Kung Fu!"

"Don't worry, Po. I will," the snake said and winked at him before slithering down in the fighting zone.

"You're up against a master of the Jade Palace. Good luck, fella," Daito said to Kira Lee. The dark blue dog just gave a little nod before jumping down in the fighting zone as well. He landed precisely far enough from Viper and on his two feet like a cat. "Wonder what this shrimp can do."

"This should be a fun match: a limbless reptile and a kid who lost his way," Hong Ze said with a chuckle.

Despite wanting to honor the Jade Palace and her friends, Viper couldn't help but feel uneasy at the idea of fighting against a little kid. "Hum, are you okay with this fight, little one? I mean, you at least have fighting-"

"Don't go easy on me, Master Viper," Kira Lee immediately interrupted her, much to the snake's surprise. "I know that you may not take me seriously because of my size and appearance, but believe me, I'm stronger than I look. And I came looking for a challenge so that I can prove myself to someone. Well, MANY ones actually. So please, give me everything you've got."

Viper blinked her turquoise eyes. Guess that settled her uneasiness issue.

"Do the participants have anything to say before we start this match?" Nunzio asked the snake and blue dog. "Very well, then let this match... BEGIN!"

The snake moved like lightning, slithering her way to Kira Lee and coiling her body around his. She wanted to immobilize him first and then use her Puppet of Death technique to make him punch himself into unconsciousness. Little did she know, the young canine wouldn't let himself get taken down so easily. Pushing his little arms out, he managed to pull Viper's coils off his body with his raw strength. He then took advantage of Viper's surprised state to hit a palm strike to her jaw which knocked her back.

"Impossible!" Crane exclaimed. "Viper's coils are strong enough to hold even a gorilla down for a good amount of time! How can this little dog break out of it with so much ease?"

"Do you think it might be possible that Kira is stronger than a gorilla?" Po asked.

Kira Lee charged on the offensive, throwing punches and palm strikes mixed with a few kicks toward Viper. The snake managed to avoid all of them thanks to a combination of her slender body and her good reflexes. However, this left her with little to no chance of fighting back with attacks of her own. Seeing no other option, she waited for the right moment before wrapping her tail around Kira's wrist after a missed punch and started spinning before tossing him toward the arena's wall.

However, this was a bad idea. Rather than hurting himself on the wall as Viper hoped, the blue dog planted his little feet and used it to push himself toward the snake at incredible speed. She only had time to gasp before ducking in time, feeling Kira's fist merely missing her cheek. Landing on his feet, he gave a somewhat scary glare toward his opponent. "Third assassin rule, don't show any mercy to your opponent."

"Geez!" Hong Ze exclaimed with a frown. "For a master of the Jade Palace, that girl sure is getting her scaly butt handed to her."

"Something's bothering me," Yukan told his two eagle friends. "I don't know how much time has passed since the match began, but Master Viper hasn't tried to bite Kira Lee a single time. Strange. Usually, snakes and vipers try to take their opponent down by biting them and injecting venom to knock them out. Why isn't she doing it?"

"... You can't be THAT clueless, are you?" Kivuli asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What are you talking about, Kivuli?"

"Yukan, Master Viper has no fangs. Therefore, she cannot use her venom," Shining Eagle explained.

"Really?"

"Yes. Master Viper is the daughter of the legendary Great Master Viper of the Viper Clan. Their clan is descending from the dragons and their venom comes from the mystical beasts' fire. It's a blessing that they have used for generations. However... Master Viper was born with no fangs which prevented her from using this venom. Because of this, many saw her as the disgrace of her clan."

Yukan blinked his eyes. "But that's... horrible."

"Yup. She tried to compensate it by practicing ribbon dancing to the point of becoming the best dancer in the region. However, it's only when she found the courage to defend her village from a gorilla bandit that her father actually started smiling to her and her village accepted her. The rest is history and she became part of the Furious Five and master of the Snake Style of Kung Fu."

The sun parrot looked back at the fighting zone. "So Master Viper cannot use her venom, but she is good with a ribbon? You think she brought one for this fight?"

"Very unlikely," Kivuli replied.

"I can't lose like this!" Master Viper thought as she turned her eyes to look at her friends who were cheering for her on the platform. "They are counting on me!"

The snake charged on the attack again, ducking a palm strike from Kira and going for a leg sweep which the blue dog leapfrogged. Viper wrapped her tail around his tiny leg and slammed him face-first on the ground. She hoped it would have knocked him out, but it didn't. The canine turned around, hitting a headbutt right to Viper's nose, and then followed with a roundhouse kick to the side of her head. He then performed a moonsault to put some distance between his opponent and himself.

By this point, both opponents were panting in exhaustion with Viper bleeding from the nose and Kira Lee having many bruises. "COME ON, VIPER! YOU TOTALLY GOT THIS!" Po kept cheering on.

"Who do you think's gonna win, Tigress?" Crane asked.

"Well, they seem to be pretty much on the same level, but unless Kira Lee has another trick up his sleeve, I'd say Viper has a good chance to win this," the feline replied without looking away from the match.

Kira Lee narrowed his red eyes at Viper. "Very well. I didn't think I would need to use it, but you don't really give me a choice. I have to win this match at any cost." As the snake gave him a confused look, Kira pulled his two black paws forward and started focusing. Suddenly, some sort of light blue energy started glowing around his paws.

Viper didn't know that technique, but something told her she should take her opponent down before he could finish whatever he was preparing. She slithered as fast as she could toward the little dog and leaped, ready to wrap her body around his limbs and pin him down for good. However, before she could, Kira's red eyes opened and a smirk formed on his lips. "You fell into my trap."

Before Viper could do anything, three little light blue orbs shot out of Kira's paw and collided right into her body, knocking the air out of her, and sending her crashing all the way into the arena's wall. That attack was violent and did hurt her a lot. She planned to get back on the offensive and dodge whatever attack the little dog had planned for her upon touching the arena floor... but she did not fall. As a matter a fact, she did not seem to be able to pull herself away from the wall.

"You should think twice before attacking head-on, Master Viper," Kira Lee said, a sinister smirk on his face. Viper gazed down at her body... and gasped.

The blue orbs somehow turned into glowing blue cuffs that pinned her against the wall. There was one pinned across her neck, one in the middle of her stomach, and one near the base of her tail. Her first reflex was to struggle and push against them in an attempt to get free, but they were too solid. Stronger than metal.

"W-What's that technique?!" Po asked with a look of shock.

"I-I don't know," Tigress replied, looking just as shocked as her friend.

"Impossible!" Daito suddenly exclaimed, causing Snow Kid and Siax who were standing near him to turn their heads in his direction. "This little guy possesses the power of aura? How is that possible?"

After her failed attempt to struggle free, Viper looked up to see Kira Lee running at her. Panicking, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on slipping her slender body out of her bonds before he could reach her. Unfortunately, she was too slow. Lee arrived in front of her and said: "It's over!" before delivering a violent punch into Viper's stomach, making her spit some saliva. He did not stop there and followed with a series of punches to the helpless snake's belly and jaw.

"Viper!" Tigress exclaimed in an unusual afraid tone for her sister.

"I can't look at this!" Crane said, pulling his two wings over his eyes.

"You can't get out of this, Master Viper!" Kira said after delivering a spin kick to Viper's jaw, making it feel numb and making blood coming out of her mouth. "This match is over! I suggest you surrender so that I won't have to hurt you!"

As much as she hated to admit it, Viper couldn't deny that her situation was hopeless. These cuffs were too solid for her to push them off and the blows Kira delivered to her body prevented her from focusing enough to slide out of them. And even if she somehow managed to break free, she sustained too much damage for any hope of beating her opponent. It took one final palm strike to her bruised stomach, which almost made her throw up to make up her mind.

"I... surrender..."

Kira Lee's attacks immediately ceased. "Master Viper has given up! therefore, the winner of this match via forfeit is Kira Lee!" Nunzio announced.

The blue dog made the cuffs disappear, allowing the badly bruised snake to fall flat on the arena floor. He stared at her. She did give her best, but he simply was the better man today. He gave a little look of compassion before turning around and walking back to the platform.

"Viper...," Po mumbled with a sad look as Tigress looked down in disappointment and Crane lowered his wings to see his snake friend getting carried away by the medical team.

"I feel bad for her," Shining Eagle said with a frown. "Kira Lee went really hard on her."

"She fought with honor. And she has nothing to be ashamed of," Yukan said with a bit of positivity.

Kivuli, meanwhile, couldn't help but stare at the blue dog who returned to his previous spot on the platform. "Looks like I underestimated this little guy. We're gonna have to keep a good eye on him."

**Author's note: I might have been a bit hard on the end of this fight, haven't I? For those of you who thought that Kira Lee was going to be an unexperienced and sweet little guy, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but he won't be. He's VERY different from what you're thinking. So, Kira Lee is the third one to qualify for the next phase alongside Po and Siax.**

**I'm starting school again tomorrow and this makes me feel a mix of sadness because I HATE maths and joy because I was getting a bit tired of sitting at home doing almost nothing all the time. As always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	21. Fire and ice

"The competition seems very strong this year," Tigress remarked with her arms folded as she glanced at Kira Lee. She still felt impressed by his fighting style that looked similar to hers, but somehow different.

"I have to agree with you on this." Crane started counting on his feathers. "There's already been three matches out of eight. And so far, the remaining ones are you, me, the master of the Magic Kung Fu School, the three masters of the Frog Dojo, and these two guys sitting in this corner." The avian master gulped. "I just hope I won't end up facing the guy from the Magic Kung Fu School."

"Come on!" Yukan impatiently said. "I'm tired of waiting! When is it gonna be my turn to fight?"

"Calm down, Yukan. Yelling won't make things get faster," Kivuli deadpanned.

"Speaking of which, Nunzio is about to announce the next fight," Shining Eagle said with pointing at the elephant.

"Attention to all the participants!" Nunzio said. "We are now going to find out who will be the two fighters for the fourth match! Look at the screen and if your name appears, come down!" Just after saying this, the screen started rolling with the remaining names, looking for the next chosen ones.

_Master Sunbird vs Master Snow Kid_

"YES!" Yukan beamed with tossing a fist in the air. "It's finally my turn to fight!"

"Great!" Snow Kid also beamed with a smile. "My time to shine has come!"

"Have fun, Yukan!" Shining Eagle said with patting her friend on the shoulder. "Show them all what you're made of!"

"Thanks, Shining," the sun parrot replied as he jumped to get down in the fighting zone. The yeti did the same, though he landed with more grace than his opponent.

"ALRIGHT! LET'S GO, YUKAN!" Po beamed loudly from the platform. "This is gonna be so AWESOME!"

Tigress, however, just crossed her arms. "Time to see if you're experienced enough to criticize my friends and I, sun parrot."

"So this is the famous guy who apparently defeated the Qidan King on his own, huh?" Siax asked with a look of interest in her green cat eyes. "Be careful, Snow Kid; you might end up getting your butt kicked there."

"I can't wait to see if you're up to your reputation, Sunbird," Daito said with a grin, finally getting off the wall and staring at the fighting zone with interest. "It's showtime!"

The sun parrot and the yeti were now standing across from each other in the fighting zone with Nunzio looking at both of them. "Master Sunbird, huh?" Snow Kid said with a chuckle as he ran a hand across the little white hair peaking out of his black toque. "Sorry to burst any pride you may have, but I never heard about you. You must not be that strong of an opponent."

"If you start estimating your opponents based on their reputation, you're in for a world of surprises, pal," Yukan replied with a scoff.

The yeti's eye twitched a bit at this. "Do you at least know who I am, young arrogant?"

"And you? Do you know how much I don't give a sandwich about it?"

"I'm Master Snow Kid from the Magic Kung Fu School. You know, the best Kung Fu academy in all of China?" He pointed a white finger at Yukan. "You better throw the match away right now if you don't want to get bruises and injuries that could force you to retire so soon!"

"I'm willing to take the risk."

"Just one more thing." Snow Kid leaned toward Yukan and talked in a whisper: "The two lovely eagle ladies that are watching the match from the platform, they are your friends, right? Can you tell me if they are single?"

"AND WHY SHOULD I TELL YOU THAT, CREEP?!" Yukan screamed with his eyes widened in shock.

"Okay, okay, just asking. Geez..."

"Are both participants ready for the fight?" Nunzio asked them.

"Yes, sir," Snow replied with a grin.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Yukan said with cracking his wings like fists.

"In this case, let the fourth match of the second phase... BEGIN!"

Yukan spread his legs and positioned his wings to take his Reverse Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu pose. Snow Kid, meanwhile, stretched his legs a bit and held both fists at his hips level. Yukan recognized this as the Wing Chun Quan fighting style.

"This stance... It's the Reverse Souther Praying Mantis Style?" Crane said while blinking his eyes in disbelief. "That's Yukan's fighting style? That's odd; most avians like me usually adopt the Crane Style of Kung Fu."

"I told you this guy is special!" Po said with enthusiasm. "Let's go, Yukan!"

Snow Kid smirked at the sun parrot. "You don't mind me taking the advantage earlier on, do you?" Right after asking this strange question, the yeti placed both of his hands down on the floor and started focusing. To Yukan's surprise, ice started forming around his hands and spreading all over the floor until it turned into an ice rink.

"W-What the heck is that?!" he asked in shock, struggling to keep his balance.

"Oh, my name didn't give the hint?" Snow Kid asked with a chuckle, showing his two hands which were emanating ice energy. "I possess ice powers. Really cool, huh?"

Of course! "Snow Kid", it should have made him understand! The yeti started skating his way toward Yukan, ready to deliver a punch. The sun parrot attempted to move out of the way, but the slippy floor prevented him from running. He received the blow across the face and was sent sliding head-first into the arena wall.

"Ouch!" Shining Eagle exclaimed with wincing. "That must've hurt!"

"Godamnit!" Yukan groaned as he stood back on his feet and touched his nostril with his wing to see a little blood coming out. He then turned to glare at Snow Kid. "I'll teach you about pain, pal!" Using the wall for momentum, the sun parrot pushed himself toward the yeti and got ready to deliver a punch in return.

However, Snow Kid just moved aside and, as Yukan failed to stop his own momentum, crashed into the arena wall again. "So predictable," he chuckled to himself.

"... What was that?" Tigress asked. "He is visibly having a hard time on the ice. Why doesn't he take to the skies like a normal bird? That would give him an advantage over Snow Kid."

Shining Eagle frowned a bit. She and the other members of the Frog Dojo knew that Yukan did not like to fly and preferred to stay on the ground... but they had no idea why. He never explained his reason.

"You still wanna fight, young parrot?" Snow Kid asked as Yukan got back up once again. "You know, there's no shame in giving up right now. I'm sure everyone watching would understand." Yukan glared at Snow Kid. Pushing a battle cry, he once again used the wall to give himself momentum and charged at the yeti. This last one sighed. "You never learn." He moved aside to dodge.

However, at the last moment, Yukan used his talons to dig into the ice, change his trajectory, and delivered a big punch across Snow Kid's face, knocking him to the ice ground. The yeti kicked up and rubbed his cheek where Yukan hit him. "Didn't see that coming, did you?" he asked in a mocking tone.

Snow Kid immediately went on the attack by skating toward Yukan once again, jumping at full speed to go for a devastating kick. However, Yukan jumped high in the air to avoid the attack and looked down at the frozen ground. So Snow Kid thought he couldn't be defeated with this environment? Time to break his illusion! The sun parrot filled his lungs with air before spitting a Phoenix Breath out. The jet of fire melted the entire ice floor in a matter of seconds.

And of course, the audience was surprised to see this.

"H-He can spit fire?!" Crane asked in surprise.

"Of course. That's why he's called Master Sunbird. You didn't know?" Po innocently asked.

"Yeah, makes sense," the avian admitted as he fanned himself with his wing because of the attack's heat.

Yukan landed on the now hotter and wet arena floor and gazed up at his opponent. He couldn't help but form a grin in the corner of his beak as the surprised and shocked expression on his face made him understand he realized the situation. Snow Kid controlled ice. Yukan controlled fire. Therefore, he was the one with the advantage in this match.

The yeti shook his head and immediately regained his stance. He threw his fist to shoot an ice blast at Yukan. Not impressed, the sun parrot did the same thing, launching a fire blast that melted through his opponent's ice and flew at him. Snow Kid found himself performing a backflip to avoid the fire which passed inches away from his face. Mumbling a swear under his breath, Snow kept shooting ice blasts at Yukan who melted them all with his fire jets.

"This is so COOL!" Po beamed. "Snow's ice is useless against Yukan! He totally got this!"

Siax, meanwhile, frowned. "Snow Kid! Can't you see you're making a fool out of yourself?! Stop messing around and start fighting seriously!"

"That's what I was gonna do, Siax!" the yeti replied before turning his attention back to Yukan. Taking his fighting stance once again, he charged at him and started delivering a series of punches and kicks. Luckily, they were pretty easy to block and dodge for Yukan. After a while of being on the defensive, the sun parrot decided to go for a spinning leg sweep. Snow Kid, however, avoided it by performing an amazing somersault.

What Yukan failed to notice was that the yeti charged some ice energy into his foot during the somersault and used the momentum of his move to deliver a kick right into Yukan's unprotected back. "Iceberg Hammer!" The attack made the sun parrot feel a painful rush of cold run from his back all the way to his abdomen. This forced him to clutch his guts in pain and cough a bit - some steam coming out of his beak.

Snow Kid, meanwhile, rolled back to put some distance between his opponent and himself. "Like my ice attacks, young parrot?" he asked with a grin. "And that's barely what I'm capable of. I strongly suggest you stop fighting now if you know what's good for you."

Yukan, however, kicked up and panted a bit while grinning at Snow Kid. "Are you kidding? This is getting fun..."

**Author's note: The battle of fire and ice has started! Who will win? Yukan Tori or Snow Kid? I mean, logically, it would be Yukan because fire beats ice, but as you can see, the yeti is not someone you can take down easily. Let me know your thoughts and as always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	22. Fire and ice part 2

The two warriors stood in the arena's fighting zone with their fighting stances, prepared to continue their clash. "Are you ready to lose, Sunbird?" Snow Kid asked with a smirk.

"Nope... I'm ready to win," Yukan replied with a grin.

Snow Kid got on the offensive again, shooting ice on the floor to increase his speed. After two seconds, the yeti reached his opponent and launched a fist toward his head in hopes of knocking him out. The sun parrot, however, was not planning to get caught so easily and performed a backflip to avoid the yeti's attack before rolling out of the way. This frustrated Snow Kid a bit as he wanted to get this fight over with and kept pressing on his offense.

Yukan managed to dodge all of his opponent's attacks with agility and waited for the right opportunity to fight back with a strike of his own. And this opportunity soon presented itself. As Snow went for an ice-charged strike, Yukan backed his head far enough so that the ice energy passed inches away from his black beak. He then curled his wing like a fist and set it on fire.

"ROARING FIST!" Yukan hit his burning fist into Snow's chin for an uppercut which sent him many feet up in the air before he landed hard on the floor. This massive blow seemed really painful as the yeti got back up and rubbed some blood off his lips. He mumbled a swear before getting on the offensive again.

"Yeah! Let's go, Yukan!" Shining Eagle cheered for her friend. "It's clear that he has the advantage thanks to his fire power. If this continues, he's gonna win this match and move on to the next phase in no time!"

"I wouldn't boast too soon, Shining," Kivuli said with staring at the ongoing battle. "Don't forget that Yukan's opponent is a master of the Magic Kung Fu School. It's possible that he has a few tricks up his sleeve that could allow him to turn the tide of this match." She then rubbed the back of her head. "Unless he only became a master recently..."

Yukan kept dodging and avoiding the blows, getting pushed closer and closer to the arena's wall. Having enough, the sun parrot ducked one last blow from the yeti before going for a double punch at his face. However, this last one swiftly pushed the strike aside with his two hands and then delivered a spin kick into Yukan's guts. He followed with a strong right to his beak which knocked him back a few feet away.

"That wasn't cool," Yukan mumbled with spitting some blood out of his beak. He then grinned. "I must admit you're pretty tough."

"Indeed, Sunbird," Snow Kid replied with a chuckle. "I don't know what kind of training Master Shujinko made you go through, but if you think you're the strongest participant in this tournament, you are horribly wrong. In fact, let me tell you that there are tens and even hundred of people across China who are stronger than you and me."

"... I know." Snow Kid gave a slightly surprised look at Yukan's response. "I know that I'm far from being the strongest fighter in the world... And I never will be. But I accept it."

Snow Kid blinked his eyes a few times at this. "Wait a minute. You're telling me that you're not participating in this tournament to prove your strength? Don't tell me you're doing it just for the money?"

"Nope."

"But why are you participating then?"

Yukan stared at the floor for a moment... before looking up again. "I just wanna test myself. See if I'm good enough to make a difference..."

"Make a difference?" Kira Lee asked with a confused look. "What is he talking about?"

"I honestly have no idea," Hong Ze responded.

Shining Eagle stared at Yukan with a mix of worry and confusion. "Yukan?"

"But don't get the wrong idea; just because I'm not searching to be the strongest master in the world doesn't mean I'm gonna let you win!" Right after saying this, Yukan lifted his wings and got back in his fighting stance. Then, without warning, he flapped his wings and charged at his opponent so quickly that he couldn't react in time and got knocked down by a dive kick to the face.

The yeti kicked up and glared at the sun parrot. "Alright. I can respect whatever motivates you, but I have no intention of losing here and getting mocked by Siax. Therefore, I'm gonna show you what my ice powers can really do."

"Go ahead; this should be fun," Yukan replied with a grin.

"Be careful, Yukan! I don't think he's messing around!" Kivuli called.

Snow Kid lifted his two hands and started focusing his ice energy. "Ice Craft: Hammer!" Some ice came out of his hands and formed some sort of sledgehammer whose hold he grabbed. He then shot some ice on the floor to give himself a boost in speed as he charged at Yukan and swung his new ice weapon. The sun parrot managed to duck and went for a kick into his side which the yeti blocked with his weapon. To his surprise, it was harder than he expected and the shock made him feel pain in his foot.

Seeing his opening, Snow slammed the ice hammer into Yukan's side, knocking him a few feet away. "Argh! Darn it!" the sun parrot groaned and clutched his poor side in pain. His opponent decided to not give him a chance to recover as he tossed his ice hammer away and lifted one hand. "Ice Craft: Sword!" This time, an ice sword was formed in his hand and he got on the offensive again.

Yukan narrowly avoided the ice sword that was swung in his direction, though it scratched at the part of his torso left exposed and gave him a little cut. Unfortunately, the yeti did not stop there and kept swinging his ice sword over and over again, the sun parrot dodging it and being backed off closer and closer to the arena's wall. If it came to this, he would have no more room to dodge and this match would be over.

Unless... Yukan allowed himself to be backed into the wall. Then, just as Snow attacked again, he used it to push himself and leap over the yeti. As the sun parrot was in midair, he lifted his wings and sent many little glowing light green orbs floating toward his opponent. "Huh? What are those?" he asked upon noticing them.

"FIREFLY BOMBS!" Snapping his feathers, Yukan made the little orbs explode in small bursts of flames all around Snow Kid, making him scream in pain. After landing on his two feet, he looked to see the result which was the yeti lying down with burn marks on his body, but nothing too bad.

"He got him!" Po exclaimed.

"Is it over? Did Yukan win?" Crane asked.

"No; look," Tigress said and pointed as Snow Kid weakly got back on his feet. He panted in exhaustion and glared his blue eyes toward Yukan.

"Alright, playtime is over, Sunbird! I'm gonna send you back to the ice age!" He lifted his two hands and started focusing a huge amount of ice energy. Yukan's emerald eyes widened as he realized his opponent was preparing a powerful attack that would surely knock him out for good. The best action to make was to launch a powerful attack of his own. He started focusing his fire energy in his stomach and took a deep breath. Then, both opponents shot their attack at the same time.

"WINTER BLAST!"

"PHOENIX BREATH!"

Yukan spat a huge breath of fire while Snow Kid shot an enormous blizzard of ice. Both attacks collided, creating a lot of steam that almost pushed some of the watchers down and even made Kira Lee flip on his back. However, as strong as both opponents' attacks were, the elemental advantage was on Yukan's side. His fire managed to melt through Snow's Winter Blast and crashed into the yeti in question. Yukan soon put an end to his attack and fell on his knees out of exhaustion.

He then looked up... and widened his eyes. Snow was lying down with even more burn marks. But this time, he did not kick up. Nunzio quickly went to check on him and see if he could continue the match. It did not took him long before giving his decision. "Master Snow Kid is unable to continue the fight! Therefore, the winner of the fourth match is Master Sunbird!"

"YEEEES!" Po beamed as Yukan widened his emerald eyes in surprise. He did it! He won the match and qualified for the third phase! "I KNEW YOU WOULD WIN!"

"He is quite impressive," Tigress admitted. "I understand why Master Shujinko took him under his wing."

"Seriously? And after this, you wonder why I'm teasing you all the time?" Siax mumbled with rolling her eyes as her yeti friend was carried away by the medical team.

"I can tell he's gonna need a LOT of fresh water to recover from this fight," Crane said with rubbing the back of his head.

Yukan, meanwhile, walked back up on the platform to go join his friends. "Nice job, Yukan!" Shining Eagle beamed with lifting her wing for a high-five. "That was a total victory!"

The sun parrot, however, did not look that happy. "It wasn't a total victory, Shining."

"Huh? What do you mean?" the golden eagle asked, lowering her wing down.

Yukan turned his eyes to look at the yeti who was still being escorted away by the medical team. "While it's true that we were very close in terms of close combat, I can tell he has much more experience in battle than I. His technique was completely different and his elemental powers were bigger. The only reason I won against him is because my fire could defeat his ice. If life had blessed me with another element, I would have probably lost."

He then looked down. "I don't know if I'm strong enough..."

**Author's note: Yukan has defeated Snow Kid and joins Po, Siax, and Kira Lee amongst the qualified for the third phase! I think this might be one of my most favorite fights I have written in this story so far. Do you think the other Frog Dojo members will do the same?**


	23. The fifth match

With half the qualifying matches being done, Nunzio allowed a moment of break for the participants before carrying on. Yukan, Shining Eagle, and Kivuli took a chance to go to the bathroom and clean themselves a bit. The sun parrot splashed some water over his face and looked at his reflexion in the mirror, lost in his thoughts. Already half the phase was done. Po, Master Siax, Kira Lee, and himself were the qualified ones for now.

But could he possibly win the tournament with such strong opponents?

"Hey, Yukan," Shining Eagle called him from outside the bathroom. "Are you finishing soon? The phase is about to continue."

"Yes, yes," Yukan replied, cleaning the water from his face. "I'm finishing. I was just... thinking about our chances of winning this tournament..."

"Don't worry, about that. Even if you think otherwise, you did great back there. You have as many chances of winning the next phases as any of the other contenders."

Yukan couldn't help but chuckle a bit to himself. "You know, Shining, you and Kivuli haven't passed your fights yet. You should worry about your upcoming matches instead of worrying about me."

The golden eagle giggled a bit to herself. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that..."

#

A few minutes later, the participants were all back in the arena with Nunzio standing in the middle of the fighting zone. "The break time is over and we shall now resume the second phase. Four of the eight matches are over, meaning half of the phase is done. I want to take the time to once again congratulate those who won their matches and qualified for the next phase." Po, Yukan, Siax, and Kira couldn't help but smile with pride. "Now, let us discover the two participants for the fifth match."

The screen turned on and started running the names of the eight remaining participants. Who would get to fight? Shining Eagle? Kivuli? Tigress? Crane? Hong Ze? Daito?

_Master Crane vs Daito Shun_

Crane's eyes widened a bit. He would have to fight this mercenary tiger? The avian turned his head to see his opponent twisting his lips into a smirk as he jumped down in the fighting zone. "Alright, Crane! It's your time to shine! Show them your awesomeness!" Po beamed, patting his avian friend on the back.

"This is not my lucky day...," Crane whined before opening his wings and flying down in the fighting zone.

"I heard that Master Crane was the best user of the Crane Style of Kung Fu in all of China," Shining Eagle said, not hiding her excitation. "I can't wait to see him in action for the first time!"

Yukan, however, just rested against the security barricade with a scoff. "Personally, I don't really care about what happens to that guy." He then narrowed his eyes. "I only wanna see what this Daito is capable of."

Crane and Daito stood in the fighting zone many feet away from each other and with Nunzio in the middle. "So I get to fight a member of the Furious Five, heh?" the tiger asked with a smirk. "What an honor for me." Crane frowned a bit, unable to tell if he was being honest or sarcastic.

"Master Crane, Daito Shun, are you ready to fight?" Nunzio asked them.

"Yes."

"I've always been."

"In that case, let the fifth match of the second phase... BEGIN!"

Both warriors charged at each other with Crane going for a dive kick and Daito clutching his fist for a punch. The two attacks collided, creating a shockwave that the other participants felt, even from such a distance. Afterwards, the avian got on the offensive first, swinging his wing at the feline's head. This last one managed to duck and span on himself for a roundhouse kick. The avian somehow saw the attack coming and managed to block it with his wing before hitting a moonkick under Daito's jaw.

"I see his strategy," Hong Ze said to no one in particular. "Master Crane is trying to stay out of Daito's reach and attack when he has the chance. Pretty smart."

After hitting a wing swipe across his face, Crane attempted to follow by launching his talons at the tiger's chest. However, this last one opened his eyes into slits at the last moment and hit a violent elbow strike into the avian's beak to stun him. He continued his combo by catching his legs and slammed him so hard on the floor that some cracks formed there (and maybe also in Crane's bones).

"Ouch! He must've felt that one!" Shining Eagle said, wincing for the poor bird.

After recovering from the shock of the impact, Crane broke out of Daito's grasp and started swiping his wings and talons at the feline. Despite his agility, Daito still sustained a few scratches before blocking the avian's wing and delivering a palm strike into his stomach which knocked him back a few feet away.

"This is so intense!" Po said with jumping in place. "Who do you think is gonna win?"

Tigress frowned a bit. "I honestly can't say, Po. Crane has defeated bandits and criminals that had more muscle than this guy... but I got a feeling he's hiding something."

Daito unsheathed his claws and started swipping them at Crane, who lost a few feathers at first, but then started using his wings to parry the attacks. Realizing close combat would not help him in that situation, Crane flapped his wings to get high in the air and glared at his feline opponent. "WINGS OF JUSTICE!" Flapping his wings again, but harder than before, Crane sent a powerful gust of wind to knock Daito off his feet and sent him crashing really hard into the arena's wall.

"Oh my gosh! This is the infamous Wings of Justice technique I heard so much about?!" Shining Eagle exclaimed, a bright smile on her beak. "THIS IS SO AWESOME!"

"You're starting to sound like Po," Yukan remarked with a chuckle.

"Great!" Po beamed too, just after the sun parrot said that. "Crane has totally knocked him out! Nice job, dude!"

"No, Po; look!" Tigress said.

Indeed, Daito managed to kick up despite Crane's attack having visibly caused him some damage. He panted and cracked his neck before grinning. "I admit this attack did hurt a lot. I'm gonna make you pay for that!"

His joy of winning fading away, Crane decided to go for a dive kick in hopes of knocking the feline down for good. Unfortunately, he had one more trick up his sleeve. Smirking, Daito made some sorts of blue energy spikes appear all over his body. Crane's eyes widened. He attempted to stop himself, but he had accumulated too much speed and came within range for Daito.

"Shard Teleportation!" As Daito's body faded away with smoke, the spikes of his body were shot in all directions, some of them piercing through Crane's wings and torso. The other participants could only look in horror as the avian master screamed in pain, blood spilling out of his body. Then, just as the spikes faded away, Daito appeared in a puff of smoke behind the avian and pinned him to the floor on his stomach while he sat on his back.

Crane could only look up in fear as the feline planted a foot on his back and grabbed his right wing in his paws. The sinister smirk on his lips indicated what he planned to do. "Game over, birdie!" With a quick jerk, Daito snapped Crane's wing in half, making him scream in pain, loud enough for the whole arena to hear. "Crane!" Po and Tigress exclaimed at the same time.

Nunzio did not need to check on the bird and immediately jumped in before Daito could hurt him any further. "Master Crane is no longer able to fight! Therefore, I have no choice but to declare Daito Shun the winner of this match!"

Nobody cheered and instead just stared in sadness and pity as Crane was carried by the medical team. However, they all knew the bird would need a good check-up on his wing. As Daito returned to the platform with a satisfied grin, Tigress decided to confront him. "What's wrong with you?! You had already won the match; you didn't need to break my friend's wing!"

The other feline, however, just pushed past her. "Get lost, sweetie. This is a fighting tournament. If you're not ready to get hurt, then you have no business in here." After this statement, Po needed to hold Tigress back before she could jump on Daito and tear him to shreds.

"What a jerk," Shining commented, glaring at Daito in disgust. "I wish Master Crane had won this one."

"What was that technique he used?" Yukan questioned. "I never saw it before."

"I have no idea," Kivuli replied with a shrug.

**Author's note: Daito wins the fifth match and joins the other four as the qualifier for the third phase. Sorry, all you Crane fans. I don't know what else to say, so... I hope you enjoyed it and may the gods watch over you all.**


	24. Self-doubt of an eagle

_Master Tigress vs Ke Pow_

"About time." Master Tigress cracked her knuckles as she jumped down in the fighting zone with a glare. Po, Yukan, and the others could tell she needed to let some of her anger out after what happened to Crane a few moments earlier. Her opponent was a male croc holding a spiked club and a metal shield.

"She looks very pissed off," Shining Eagle remarked. "It's almost scary."

"I wonder if she's as strong as they claim," Yukan said.

"Are both fighters ready?" Nunzio asked. They both nodded in agreement. "Very well. Let the sixth match of the second phase... BEGIN!"

Tigress wasted no time charging at her opponent with both her paws pulled back, ready to go for her double palm strike. Ke Pow attempted to protect himself behind his shield, but the feline's raw strength easily broke through it, hitting the croc in the chest and sending him crashing hard into the arena's wall. He then fell flat on his face and did not get back up.

Nunzio went to check on the croc and couldn't hide his surprise. "... Ke Pow is no longer able to continue. The winner of the sixth match is Master Tigress."

"A-Again?!" Yukan exclaimed. "That's the second time it happens in this phase!"

"Hm, maybe she and I could have a pretty good match?" Siax mused to herself.

As Ke Pow was escorted away by the medical team, Tigress returned to the platform with the remaining participants not daring getting in her way after what she did. "Nice job, Tigress!" Po congratulated her. "You totally dominated down there!"

However, Tigress still felt angry after what happened to Crane and did not return her friend's enthusiasm. The other participants started mentally hoping they wouldn't have to face her in the upcoming phases. "Very well, without any further due, let's move on to the seventh match," Nunzio announced as the screen started rolling with the remaining names.

"Seven match out of eight and none of us has passed yet," Kivuli told Shining Eagle. "We have good chances of passing soon."

"I just hope it won't be against one another," the golden eagle replied with a gulp.

"Girls! Look!" Yukan suddenly said and pointed at the screen.

_Shining Eagle vs Hong Ze_

"Aw, finally!" Hong Ze said, throwing a fist in the air. He looked over at Shining Eagle. "Looks like I've got the luck of getting the smallest apple of the bunch."

Ignoring this comment, Yukan patted his eagle friend on the shoulder. "Come on, Shining; show them what you're capable of."

Shining nodded and flew down in the fighting zone while Hong Ze jumped and landed gracefully with an impressive flip. As they stood across from each other, Shining couldn't help but stare at the elk. She remembered how they briefly struggled against each other during the first phase. "So this guy is good at running on tree branches and doing flips... but what else?"

"Participants, are you ready?" Nunzio asked both fighters.

"Yes... I guess."

"Let's get this started so that we can move on to the next phase already."

The elephant nodded. "Very well. Let the seventh match of the second phase... BEGIN!"

As soon as he said this, Hong Ze charged rapidly with his two little feet and delivered the first blow of the match by planting his elbow into Shining Eagle's unprotected abdomen. She found herself spitting saliva as the air was knocked out of her lungs and was sent flying a few feet back. Somehow, she managed to stop herself by planting her talons on the floor.

"Not a good start," the avian said, clutching her belly with her wing and glaring at the elk.

Hong Ze gave a confident smirk. "You already wanna give up, Master Shining Eagle? I'd like this match to last long enough to at least get some fun out of it, please." He charged at his opponent and went for a running kick. However, this time, Shining was prepared. She moved sideways to avoid the kick and flapped her wing to shoot a gust of wind that hit her opponent, sending him crashing into the arena's wall.

"Still not having fun?" Shining asked with a grin.

Hong Ze kicked up and glared at her. "Alright, this fight is on."

Both fighters charged forward, Hong Ze running on his feet and Shining Eagle flapping her wings for a boost, and met in the middle of the fighting zone. Fist and wing collided hard, creating a small shockwave that was felt by the other participants. The avian then flapped her wings to back away, narrowly avoided a spin kick from the elk, and taking to the skies. Hong Ze might be strong in close combat, but Shining Eagle had the high ground.

"Let's Go, Shining! Kick his butt!" Yukan cheered for his friend.

However, if she thought she was in a safe zone, she was wrong. Hong ze started running along the arena's wall and used the watchers' platform to jump up. Shining was caught off-guard by a big kick to the beak which caused her to lose balance and fall toward the floor.

"Having the high ground doesn't mean having the advantage, birdy!" Hong Ze taunted her with a smirk.

The eagle's golden eyes narrowed into a glare as she flapped her wings to regain her balance and charged at the elk, plunging her beak right into his stomach. This caused him to spit some saliva just before crashing on his back while Shining Eagle landed gracefully. Coughing a bit and holding his guts, Hong Ze slammed his fist on the floor out of frustration.

"Wow! Master Shining Eagle is very strong!" Po beamed.

"I have to agree," Tigress said. "I'd say she's around the same level as Crane. But... there's something missing in her fighting style..."

As Hong Ze recovered, Shining Eagle flapped her wings to push herself up and went for a dive, ready to hit a rocket charge at her opponent. However, she failed to notice the elk coming out with a plan. As she approached him, Hong Ze took out two strange swords out of his robes and smirked at the incoming avian. This last one could only widen her eyes in shock as she realized that it was too late to turn around and dodge.

Hong Ze swung his swords, and blood was sent flying in the air. Shining Eagle fell down on the floor, rolling for a few feet before coming to a stop. Feeling the pain rushing in her wings, she secretly begged for the damage to not be too bad as she got up and inspected her wings.

To her shock, blood was pouring out of deep cuts on her wings. Not only that, but most of her primary feathers got cut in the process as well. It would take them a while before growing back up. But for now... it meant she couldn't fly anymore.

"It hurts?" She turned to see Hong Ze chuckling at her. "I would've expected a bit more intelligence from the daughter of Master Eagle." He then pointed a bloodtainted scimitar at his opponent. "So what we're saying is true: you truly are the shame of the Eagle Clan."

As he said this, Shining's angry expression softened and turned into one of sadness and she looked at the floor.

"Hey! What is he talking about?" Yukan asked, shocked by this sudden insult that seemed to have hurt his friend.

"Dude, you don't remember that Shining is the daughter of Master Eagle?" Kivuli asked him. "We met him at the feast, a few days ago."

"Yeah, I do remember. But what does it have to do with this fight?"

Kivuli sighed in a rather sad tone. "You know what happens when you're born the kid of a legendary person? People are expecting you to follow in your parent's steps and be just as great. In other words, they have very high expectations for you." She then pointed her wing at the fighting zone. "Shining Eagle is no exception and... she suffered because of it. As the daughter of Master Eagle - considered the best aerial fighter of all time - her fellow masters were expecting her to become just as great as him."

Kivuli started frowing. "The unfair thing is that on her own, Shining Eagle is a very good aerial fighter: she mastered the Crane Style of Kung Fu and can stand against other fighters like Master Crane." Her frown intensified. "But... being the daughter of a legend, good isn't enough. The other masters of the Aviation Kung Fu Academy constantly pressured her to become better and even her own father barely acknowledged her accomplishments. This caused her to develop self-doubts and a desire to prove herself to everyone."

Yukan blinked his emerald eyes a few times in shock. "So... Shining Eagle is seen as the shame of her clan?!"

Kivuli nodded. "Pretty much. You might know her as a cheerful and lively girl... but back when she trained at the Aviation Kung Fu Academy, she was very silent and distant. This only changed when she joined the Frog Dojo to train under Master Shujinko - much to her father's disappointment. She might have become different now... but her goal hasn't changed. She still wants to prove that she is worthy of being called a warrior."

Yukan's gaze slowly turned back toward the fighting zone. Shining Eagle groaned in pain as Hong Ze kept giving her blows and kicks during Kivuli's speech. "Shining..."

"It's over," Hong Ze said as Shining Eagle laid on the ground following a kick across the beak. "Be a good girl and stay down so that you won't have the embarrass yourself any further." However, the avian did not listen to her opponent and stood up despite being hurt and bleeding from her beak and wings. "Are you kidding me?!"

"I... can't... lose...," she panted, weakly looking up. "I must... earn... my father's respect." She coughed a bit. "There's no way... I'll be the only one of my friends to fail this phase..." Not caring about her wounds, Shining flapped her wings, giving herself the smallest push she could get and charged at her opponent.

But the expected had to happen.

Hong Ze jumped up to avoid the avian's predictable attack and slashed his scimitar across her back. The poor eagle fell down on the floor as blood covered her back. When she did not get back up after 10 seconds, Nunzio went to check on her. He sighed sadly and looked at everyone. "Master Shining Eagle is no longer able to continue the fight. Therefore, I must declare that the winner of this match is HONG ZE!"

"Shining!" As soon as Nunzio called the match off, Yukan and Kivuli jumped down in the fighting zone to rush at their friend's side. Yukan took her wing into his while Kivuli held her head in hers. "Are you okay?"

Shining weakly pushed her golden eyes open to look up at her two friends. "Y-Yukan... Kivuli..."

"Yes, we're here. Don't worry. It's over," the martial eagle said in a reassuring tone.

"Guys... Did... Did I make... a good fight...?"

Seeing her in such a weak state, Yukan couldn't prevent his black beak from trembling a little bit. And his emerald green eyes started getting wet. Before he could answer her, she closed her eyes and fell into unconsciousness. "Move!" a member of the medical team ordered as he arrived with his team. "We're taking her!"

"Hey, birdbrains!" As Shining was getting pulled on a stretcher, Yukan and Kivuli turned around to look at Hong Ze who pulled his two scimitars back in his robes and glanced at them. "If I were you, I wouldn't waste my time with this avian." He pointed a finger at Kivuli. "You still have your match to do. And you," he pointed at Yukan, "don't try to convince her that she did good. She hasn't. She isn't a good fighter and she never will be."

Yukan's wing clutched into a fist and was set on fire. Any trace of sadness faded from his face and was replaced by a burning anger. "How dare you... I'LL TEACH YOU TO MOCK MY FRIEND LIKE THIS!" It took the combined efforts of Kivuli and Po, who walked down in the fighting zone earlier, to prevent the sun parrot from turning the elk into a pile of ash.

"Yukan, calm down!" Kivuli said. "I'm mad at him too, but attacking him between two matches will only get you in trouble! Wait 'till the next phase to kick his butt and knock him out of the tournament, okay?"

Knowing his friend was right, Yukan sighed, pulling the fire off his wing and calmed down. "You're right..." He then glared at Hong Ze, pointing a feather at him. "But this isn't over. I'll see you again in the next phase..."

**Author's note: Tigress qualifies after a squash fight (what? We all need jobbers once in a while) and Hong Ze qualifies after defeating Shining Eagle. I hope you enjoyed the way I used your OC, The Grey Coincidence.**

**This was probably one of the most emotional fights I have written so far. I wanted to give a little backstory for Shining Eagle without making one of those endless anime flashback sequences. There is some truth behind this theme: whenever you're the kid of a legendary person, people are expecting you to be like this person. Being a wrestling fan, I've seen many wrestlers' children trying to be like their parents, but failing because of their legacy's pressure. Very sad.**

**Anyways, the final match of the second phase is for the next chapter. You'll tell me which match has been your favorite. May the gods watch over you all ;)**


	25. The second phase concludes

"It is now time for the final match of the second phase. Master Kivuli versus Hundun. Please come down in the fighting zone."

Kivuli opened her wings and flew down in the fighting zone with her opponent. A rhino who looked like a member of Chor-Ghom Prison's famous Anvil of Heaven. "Get ready to be squashed, birdie!" he said with cracking his knuckles. "I'm gonna win this tournament and regain my lost honor!"

The martial eagle rose a curious eyebrow at this. "You lost honor?"

"Yes; after Tai Lung defeated us and escaped from Chor-Ghom, I lost everything I had! This is my chance to change my destiny!"

"Participants, are you ready?" Nunzio asked.

"More than ever!" Hundun shouted while Kivuli just nodded.

"Very well then. Let the eight and final match of the second phase... BEGIN!"

Hundun removed his horn, much to the watchers' surprise, and revealed five canon-looking holes which he filled with red rocks. "Eat my canon blasts!" The rhino started shooting explosive blasts at the martial eagle who opened her wings and took off into the air to avoid them.

"... This guy has a _cannon_ inside his horn?" Po asked with blinking his eyes.

"Just when you think you have seen everything...," Yukan mumbled.

After around ten shots, Hundun ran out of shots and started recharging. Kivuli saw her chance and rose her wing to summon her purple seal. "Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!" Her trusty sword came out of the seal and into her wing. The martial eagle dove down toward her rhino opponent and made it to him before he could finish recharging, swinging her sword and cutting across his torso.

As a jet of blood flew in the air, Hundun groaned and collapsed on his face, dropping all the fireballs he charged in his cannon. Nunzio went to check on him and then turned to look at everyone. "Participant Hundun is no longer capable of fighting. Therefore, the winner of this final match is Master Kivuli!"

"Well done, Kivuli!" Yukan beamed with a smile.

"W-Where did she get that sword from?" Tigress asked.

"It's a special power of hers," the sun parrot replied, not wanting to say too much about it to a potential future opponent.

Tigress narrowed her eyes at the martial eagle as she pulled her sword back into her magical seal. "What's wrong, Tigress?" Po asked.

"I don't know, Po. There's... something in that girl's gaze that seems familiar. But I can't tell what is it..."

#

Around half an hour later, after the tournament staff cleaned the fighting zone, Nunzio called all the winning fighters down in the middle of the arena. He looked at all of them with his arms behind his back. "First of all, I wish to congratulate each one of you. Dragon Warrior Po Ping, Master Siax, Kira Lee, Master Sunbird, Daito Shun, Master Tigress, Hong Ze, and Master Kivuli. You all came out victorious of your respective match and qualified for the third phase."

Po tossed a fist in the air and held his paw toward Tigress for a high-five. The feline just rolled her eyes and complied. Daito grinned viciously and Kira Lee rubbed the back of his head as he looked anywhere but at his opponents. Siax crossed her arms. Hong Ze nodded his head with a smile before seeing Kivuli giving him a glare which made him gulp. Yukan looked very serious.

"So, what's next, ref?" Daito asked.

"I was coming to that point." The elephant cleared his throat before moving on. "The third phase will be the last one of this year's tournament. It will take the form of a mini-tournament with one on one matches just like the ones of this phase."

"What? More matches like the ones we just did? That's so lame!" Po whined, only to get silenced by an elbow strike from Tigress.

"As I was saying," Nunzio continued, annoyed to be interrupted, "the third phase will be a mini-tournament of matches between the eight of you. However, this one will be slightly different. It will take place in this arena, but you will all fight in front of a large audience of very important people. I'm talking about Kung Fu Masters, authority figures, clan leaders, Imperial figures, and even nobles."

"Really?" Hong Ze asked, a grin forming on his lips.

"Whoa, I didn't expect it to be THIS important," Kira said with rubbing the back of his head.

"As you know, the Legendary Tournament is a very ancient and important event for China as a whole," Nunzio continued. "The third phase will be a chance to make a name for yourselves. Some of you fight to make your masters proud, but some of you are also here to prove their worth or just gain money and fame. Fighting in front of such an important audience is a dream opportunity. It will happen in two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Hong Ze asked. "Why not in only two days?"

"Because the tournament staff will need time to prepare the Jade Palace Coliseum Arena for the third phase. That and also because we need to wait for all the scheduled important people to arrive in the city. You should take advantage of this time to rest, think of a strategy, or train. You revealed a lot of your skills during the second phase, so it would be good to get prepared in advance. I can do nothing but wish you good luck."

With Nunzio's speech being done, Yukan couldn't help but turn his head and look at the other participants. He still remembered with how much ease they won their encounters while he struggled against Snow Kid. Gulping, he looked down at his wing and frowned.

"If I want a chance to win the tournament, I'll have to become stronger than this. I'm gonna ask Master Shujinko to give me a special training..."

* * *

After the tournament staff allowed the remaining participants to leave, Yukan and Kivuli returned to the Frog Dojo. Upon arrival, they received a hero's welcome with all the students cheering and complimenting them. The Martial eagle replied with an amused smile while Yukan just waved at them before going to see Shujinko who, as always, was sitting in the living room, drinking tea.

"Master," he said to get his attention.

"Aww, Yukan, Kivuli, you're back," he said with a smile after finishing a sip. "Where's Shining Eagle?"

"She's at the local infirmary. She lost her fight and is out of the tournament," Kivuli informed him.

"Oh, too bad," the old frog said with a sad expression on his face. "I hope she fought with honor and bravery."

"Don't worry, master; she did," the martial eagle assured before looking around. "Where's Kodok?"

"In his room. Ever since his lost, he has been spending a lot of time there. He barely comes out of his room outside of diner time and for going to the bathroom," Shujinko explained. "He told me that he's working on expanding his arsenal so that he'll be more helpful in the future. I think he still has a hard time digesting his defeat in the tournament."

"I'll go talk to him. And after this, I'll go pay a little visit to Shining Eagle at the infirmary," Kivuli said and walked away.

"There's something I want to ask you, Master," Yukan said.

"What is it?"

"I know that you only train us on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but... during the second phase, I saw the other participants in action and I realized I have no chance of winning unless I become stronger. So... do you think you could give me a special training to give me a chance, please?"

The old frog blinked his eyes a few times before twisting his lips into a smile. "Of course, Yukan. How can I refuse when you ask in such a polite way? We can start your training right after I'm done with my tea."

**Author's note: The second phase is done. Our winners are Yukan, Po, Tigress, Kivuli, Daito Shun, Kira Lee, Siax, and Hong Ze. Which match was your favorite and who do you think will win the tournament?**

**Hundun made an appearance in this chapter - he's a villain from Legends of Awesomeness, if you don't remember. I wanted someone special to face Kivuli.**

**We're gonna get a little training for Yukan before moving on to the third and final phase. I will try to make the matches even better than those of the second phase. Until then, stay cool and may the gods watch over you all.**


	26. The secondary elements

Master Shujinko led Yukan out of the city and up to the top of a mountain for his next training. It took them half a day before reaching their destination. Once they arrived, the sun parrot immediately sat down on a rock and panted, removing his jacket to get some air. "Why did we have to get so far, Master? Couldn't we have done this into the basement training room or something?"

"The training I have planned for you is a special one where you will have to avoid any form of distraction," the old frog explained as he opened his backpack and started taking out the equipment to prepare some tea. "It would be a bit hard to do in a place like a city. This is why we've come here in the mountains. You know that monks usually come and even live in here to find calm and tranquility?"

"... Yeah, I guess it makes sense," Yukan admitted. "So? Can we start this training?"

"Sure... but before, let's have a cup of tea."

Yukan fell on his face. Of course, he should have figured his master would want to drink tea before doing anything else. He went to kneel down before the old frog and took the cup of tea he offered him, taking a good sip from it. It was good. Oolong tea. After taking his first two sips, Shujinko started talking again.

"Have you ever heard about the main elements and the secondary elements attached to them?"

"Well, I did have a friend who had fire powers like me. However, he possessed a secondary element called combustion. That's the only secondary element that I know of."

"So you don't know about the other secondary elements of fire?"

"Well, fire and pretty much all the other elements. Except ice."

"I see," Shujinko said with nodding before finishing his cup of tea and started filling it again. "Fire is the element of power: the fire users have a thirst for power and the ambition to achieve their goals. They are fueled by will and anger. Water is the element of adaptation: water users can go along with the flow of life with little to no problem and have a strong sense of unity."

"Earth is the element of substance: the earth users are strong, enduring and diversified. And finally, air is the element of freedom: air users have a free spirit and open mind. They learn to not get attached to material bonds and follow their own path without minding the outside world."

Yukan could not exactly understand where his master was going with all of this. "Why are you telling me all this, Master?"

"A wise man once said that it is important to take inspiration from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it ends up becoming rigid and stale. As a matter a fact, most secondary elements were created by taking inspiration from the other three elements. And today, I'll try to make you learn a secondary fire element."

"Really?" Yukan asked with a sudden expression of interest. "What is it?"

"Lightning."

Yukan's emerald eyes widened. "L-Lightning?"

Shujinko nodded. "Lightning is the closest energy to fire in terms of similarities. It is precise and deadly, but is not fueled by anger or will the way fire is. If you want to use lightning, you must have a peaceful mind and a great focus."

Yukan nodded. "If that's the case, I think I'll have another cup of tea." The old frog smiled at this and gladly served his student again.

#

After they were done with their tea, Yukan and Shujinko walked to the edge of the mountain to start practicing. "As I said, fire and lightning are similar but different energies. Only a few fire users can differentiate them." The old frog then rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "I wish I could tell you more, but unfortunately, I am no fire user."

"So you cannot tell me anything else that could be useful?" Yukan asked.

"Well, I can tell you this: try to close your eyes and picture a white energy and a black energy, like Yin and Yang. Try giving one of these energies to your fire and the other to lightning... and release this last one with your wings. Understood?"

"I... think." Taking a deep breath, Yukan turned toward the empty air. He closed his emerald eyes and focused. Picturing a black and white energy. Like Yin and Yang. He decided to give the white energy to his fire and focused on the black energy. He pictured this black energy moving from his chest up to his wing and... shot!

But nothing came out of his wing.

"Looks like you'll need some practice, my student," Shujinko said. "Keep practicing; I'm gonna make us some dinner."

* * *

Three hours later, the sun started setting down at the horizon and Yukan had done nothing but practicing during all that time. However, no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't manage to produce lightning with his wings.

"God dammit!" the sun parrot swore, finally getting tired and throwing his wings in the air. "Why it doesn't work?! Why can't I produce the slightest bit of lightning?!"

"Maybe it is because your mind is not in a peaceful state," Shujinko remarked from the rock on the sidelines. "Is there something troubling you, Yukan?"

The sun parrot looked at his master for a moment. Could he... No, he shouldn't mention it. This would only cause him trouble and he promised to leave this behind. "N-No, I'm perfectly fine, Master."

The old frog sighed sadly and pulled his tea cup down to go walk over to his student. "Then maybe we need to try a different secondary element. This one is not as strong, but is just as useful. Acid."

"You can teach me to master acid?"

Shujinko nodded. "If you let the flow of energy inside your body flow down into your stomach and mix with your fire energy, it is possible to give it a liquid shape and spit it out by your mouth."

"Really?"

"Yes. Your stomach is a vast ocean of energy." Shujinko then smiled. "Except that in my case, it's more like a vast ocean of tea." He laughed at his joke.

"Alright. I'll try it. Acid." Yukan closed his eyes and tried to focus on his fire energy, redirecting it toward his stomach. Once it was done, he pulled it up and spat... saliva. He started feeling anger taking over his heart because of this new failure.

Why did he fail? He couldn't allow himself to lose a single day with failures! The third phase was in two weeks! He needed to win new techniques and IMMEDIATELY! If he lost any time, he would never-

Yukan shot his eyes open and started breathing faster. No. Not that feeling again. He couldn't let it take over and cause harm again. The sun parrot looked at his right wing and it shook a bit.

"What's wrong, Yukan?" Yukan looked up to see Shujinko staring at him with concern.

"... We... We shouldn't have done this, Master. Let's go back to the Dojo before it gets dark."

The old frog was surprised to hear his student saying this. "You wanna leave? But we barely started your training. Don't you want a chance to win the tournament?"

"I'll try to make it with what I know. Let's go now."

**Author's note: This training chapter was inspired by the episode "Bitter Work" from Avatar The Last Airbender. The quote: "I****t is important to take inspiration from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it ends up becoming rigid and stale," is from Uncle Iroh. So much wisdom :)**

**I'm sorry if you guys were expecting a Dragon Ball or Naruto-styled training arc before the next phase, but it won't happen. Even after so many chapters, we still don't know that much about Yukan's backstory, but I can assure you he has his reasons.**

**Keep sending reviews on how I can get better as it keeps me motivated. As always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	27. Beginning of the third phase

After deciding to stop his special training, Yukan spent the next two weeks doing nothing but his usual training under Master Shujinko's normal tutelage on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This last one asked the sun parrot many times if he was sure that he didn't want to continue the special training they started to unlock secondary fire elements like lightning or acid. As much as he wanted to, Yukan denied every time, not wanting to risk making the same mistakes as before. He would just participate in the third phase and pray for success...

Throughout the days, the masters of the Frog Dojo saw more and more important people such as nobles and members of the Imperial Army coming into the city in order to assist the third phase of the Legendary Tournament. This made them understand that Nunzio was not exaggerating when he said that the third phase would be attended by such people and that it would be a great opportunity for the participants to make a name for themselves.

Then, before they knew it, the great day arrived. The eight remaining participants returned to the Jade Palace Coliseum Arena, where the second phase took place. However, unlike the previous time where they were alone with Nunzio and the medical team, the arena was this time filled with a large audience of commoners who came to watch the show, Kung Fu Masters, authority figures, clan leaders, Imperial figures, and even nobles.

"Wow, they didn't hold back on making this a public event, did they?" Kivuli commented to Yukan who nodded in agreement.

The sun parrot looked at the stands filled to the rim and looking at them. While most of them looked excited and happy to be there, others had formal looks on their faces as if they were here just because they had to. He soon spotted the part of the audience where the Frog Dojo masters were sitting including Master Shujinko, Shining Eagle and Kodok. Shining recovered from her injuries and was allowed to attend the show while Kodok finally got over his defeat and came out of his room to watch it too.

Yukan then turned his head to see the other participants of this phase. Po looked just as excited as ever, while Master Tigress just crossed her arms and waited for the phase to begin. Kira Lee nervously played with his thumbs and Daito Shun grinned in anticipation. As for Siax and Hong Ze, they didn't express any emotion outside of looking confident. "I just hope they haven't learned new techniques during the time break."

"YOUR ATTENTION, EVERYONE!" The whole arena fell silent as Nunzio, standing in the middle of the arena, talked out loud for all to hear. "Before we begin the third phase, I would like to take the time to thank all of you who joined us for today as well as to explain the rules to the eight remaining participants."

"I bet it's gonna be the exact same thing as with the second phase," Hong Ze scoffed with his arms crossed.

"As I previously said, the third and final phase is a mini-tournament of one on one duels just like the second phase. However, this time, it will continue until there is only one remaining. The rules for the matches are the same as before: your opponent and yourselves fight with everything you have until one of you is either incapacitated or decides to give up the match."

"I guessed right," Hong Ze mumbled, only to be silenced by a nudge from Master Siax.

"Without any further due, we will now proceed with the first match that has been decided by the tournament staff during the two weeks break time. I call the following participants: Master Sunbird Yukan Tori and Daito Shun!"

Upon hearing this, Yukan's eyes widened. "I-I'm starting off against this guy?!" He could still remember with how much brutality he managed to take Master Crane down.

"Oh no," Shining Eagle said in the audience.

"What's wrong, Shining?" Kodok asked her.

"This guy that Yukan is up against faced Master Crane during the second phase and broke his wing with no remorse whatsoever," the female avian replied with a look of worry. "I hope Yukan will be careful against him."

"Do not worry, my little Shining Eagle," Master Shujinko said with a smile after taking a sip of the tea he brought. "If there is one person I know who can take care of himself, it's Yukan."

Back in the fighting zone, Nunzio asked the tournament staff to lead the other participants to the stands reserved for them from where they would watch the match before their turn. "Let's go, Yukan! You totally have this!" Po beamed with enthusiasm.

"Po, you know he's supposed to be our enemy in this phase, right?" Tigress asked.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I cannot cheer him on." Tigress did not argue against her friend. She could not deny that she too would like to see Master Sunbird avenge Crane against Daito Shun.

Yukan and Daito stood across from each other in the fighting zone with Nunzio standing between them. However, he could not prevent the two participants from giving each other glares of competition. The tiger twisted his lips into a smirk. "So the time has finally come, huh? I was so excited to face you in this tournament, Sunbird!"

Yukan replied with a grin of his own and slammed his fist into his wing. "I can assure you I feel the same way!" He turned his head to look at the large audience looking at him. That was it. The chance to prove his worth and see if he became strong enough to make a difference...

"Yukan, Daito, do you have anything to say before the beginning of this match?" Nunzio asked them.

"No," they replied at the same time.

"Very well then. Let the first match of the final phase... BEGIN!"

Daito immediately attacked, smashing Yukan across the face with a strong punch that knocked him aside and to the floor. A good portion of the audience gasped in surprise as they were not expecting this. Yukan remained still on the floor for a moment. However, before Nunzio could check on him, the sun parrot suddenly kicked up to his feet.

"Thanks. For a second, I thought this punch was all it would take to beat you," the tiger said with a chuckle.

"... Don't get too cocky, Daito..." As he spoke in a low, threatening voice, the sun parrot set both of his fists on fire and glared up, his emerald eyes glowing with anger. Charging at his opponent, he let out a battle cry. "ROARING FIST!" As his attack collided with Daito, a big fire explosion occurred, creating some smoke.

"He got him!" Shining Eagle beamed.

Yukan grinned as he thought the exact same thing... just before the smoke cleared, revealing a light blue energy shield around the tiger. "Huh?! What the-"

"Impact Barrier!"

The energy shield exploded, sending Yukan flying into the air. What the heck was that technique? Regardless, he recovered from his momentarily surprise to regain his composure and set his right foot on fire. "TAKE THAT!" Upon falling down, he slammed his burning foot on top of Daito's head, knocking him to the ground and creating a small crater upon the impact. The avian then jumped back to put some distance between his opponent and himself.

After a few seconds, Daito got back up with a glare and a burning mark on his head. "I admit you got me there... but this is FAR from over!" The tiger took his fighting stance while Yukan did just the same thing.

"Oh my god! This is going be great!" Po beamed, feeling the tension rising in the air.

Yukan charged forward and threw a kick that Daito ducked, striking a fist into the avian's side. He replied with a right hook into the tiger's face that made him groan in pain before grabbing his opponent's wing and throwing him over his shoulder, directly on the floor. As he rose his foot for a stomp, Yukan rolled out of the way and dropkicked Daito in the back, which put some distance between the two of them.

"Come on, Yukan!" Kivuli mumbled. "If you want a chance to face Hong Ze and avenge Shining, you need to win this..."

The sun parrot flapped his wings to give himself a little boost and landed a kick right into Daito's chest, sending him crashing into the arena's wall. For a moment, he couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that these walls would have collapsed a long time ago, were they not made of steel.

"NOW, this is getting interesting!" Daito said with a snarl.

"Don't tell me you were just warming up; I won't believe you," Yukan said without lowering his fighting stance.

Daito did not reply that and instead disappeared with sending shards flying everywhere. They didn't touch Yukan because he was too far, but he still recognized this technique: the Shard Teleportation. He used it to defeat Master Crane. Then, out of nowhere, the sun parrot received a violent uppercut under his beak that almost broke his jaw and sent him crashing a few feet away.

"H-How did he do that?!" Kodok asked in surprise.

"Shard Teleportation," Shining Eagle said. "He used that technique during his match with Master Crane. Since he came too close to Daito, these spikes pierced through his body, giving him some serious injuries." The avian shivered at the memory.

Yukan rubbed his beak in pain as he got back up and groaned. "I won't lose!"

The avian immediately got back on the offensive, charging at Daito for a punch which the feline blocked. He attempted to counter with a leg sweep which Yukan avoided with a jump followed by a somersault in the air that allowed him to land a kick on top of the tiger's skull, exactly where he touched him previously.

However, the feline did not stop there and performed another leg sweep that tripped Yukan off his feet and then planted his paw into his stomach. "IMPACT!" A small explosion knocked Yukan many feet away. But, while he was in midair, the avian rose his wings to send some glowing green orbs floating toward his opponent. "FIREFLY BOMBS!" Snapping his feathers, the glowing orbs exploded around Daito, just as Yukan collided with the floor.

"Oh, a light show," Hong Ze mused to himself.

"This fight is getting intense! Who do you think is gonna win?" Kira asked as he was sitting on the stand's security barricade to have a better view.

"I'm not sure," Siax replied as she rubbed her chin. "They seem to be on equal parts so far. Unless they have new tricks that we haven't seen yet."

Yukan and Daito both got back up, panting in exhaustion and from the pain of their wounds. However, neither of them was ready to give up now.

"COME AT ME, SUNBIRD!"

"With pleasure..."

**Author's note: Yes, I know that you were all expecting Yukan to face Hong Ze so that he could avenge Shining Eagle's defeat. Well, sorry, but looks like it's gonna be a match to avenge Master Crane instead.**

**I'm gonna move on to another house again in two weeks, which means I might gonna have to take a while before publishing anything new on this site again. I hope not because things are getting spicy in here.**

**Do you think Yukan is gonna win against Daito? And who do you think will face in the next matches? Stay stunned to find out and, as always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	28. Fire and impact

PAF!

BOOM!

CRASH!

The duel between Yukan and Daito raged on in the middle of the Jade Palace Coliseum Arena. It has lasted for ten minutes now and both fighters were looking exhausted. Yukan's body was covered in bruises with some blood coming out of his nostrils while burning marks covered Daito's fur and clothes. He would definitely need to change dress after this match.

The tiger gave his opponent a smirk while panting. "I can tell you're reaching your limits. This fight is about to be done, Sunbird!"

In response, the avian spat on the floor and took his Reverse Praying Mantis stance once more. "Are you kidding? I still have plenty of energy left! You're the one that's going down!"

Thinking the same thing, both opponents charged forward at the same time, Daito reaching his paw forward and Yukan setting his fist on fire.

"IMPACT!"

"ROARING FIST!"

Both attacks collided violently, creating an explosion that sent the feline and avian flying backward and crashing into the arena's wall. At this point, the audience's interest reached very high levels. They came with the expectation to be entertained, and so far, they were not disappointed.

"Come on, Yukan!" Shining Eagle cheered for her friend from the stands.

"This Daito guy sure is something," Kodok remarked with rubbing some sweat off his forehead because of the tension. "He seems to be on the same level as Yukan. You guys think he has a chance to win?"

The two friends looked toward Master Shujinko who did not answer and just kept staring at the match going on. They noticed that he did not touch his cup of tea for a while which was rather unusual. This match must have really caught his interest.

Despite feeling the pain and fatigue rushing through his body, Yukan managed to get back up before Daito and saw his chance to launch an attack first. "PHOENIX BREATH!" Filling his lungs with air, the sun parrot opened his beak and shot a big jet of fire toward the tiger. However, this last one also had a trick for it in his arsenal. "IMPACT BARRIER!" The light blue energy wall that appeared around Daito blocked Yukan's fire jet, burning only the metal wall behind him.

"Darn it!" Yukan swore with a glare as his attack failed. A small part of him started regretting not continuing his special training with Master Shujinko to learn any secondary elements.

"I hope that wasn't your best attack, Sunbird. Cause I have much more in my arsenal!" Daito declared. He started using the Shard Teleportation to appear everywhere around the fighting zone. In doing so, he sent his energy spikes flying everywhere, forcing Yukan to constantly move in order to avoid them. But despite his best efforts, he still got a few small cuts here and there.

"Gotcha!" Turning around, the sun parrot saw the tiger making a dash toward him. Realizing he couldn't dodge in time, he rose his wings to block and braced himself. However, he wasn't fast enough and the kick pierced his defense, nailing right into his stomach. This made him spit saliva and sent him flying many feet away. Daito's smirk widened even more.

"Come ooon, Yukan!" Po screamed from the stands reserved for the participants. "This guy is pulling tricks on you! So don't let him do!"

"Really? We didn't realize it," Kivuli sarcastically told the panda. She then looked back at her friend. "But he is right. You need to find a different approach or you're done for it, Yukan..."

"Darn it...!" Yukan cursed as he clutched his stomach in pain and coughed a little blood. As much as he hated to admit it, he could no longer shrug off his opponent's attacks as he was getting closer and closer to his limits. Just getting back to his feet required a huge effort from him. He needed to end this quick or he would lose and get eliminated on the first round of the third phase...

The bird's thoughts were interrupted by the tiger who charged at him again, launching a kunai that left a cut on his cheek before planting itself in the arena's wall and then going for a kick. Yukan managed to block it this time, but Daito wasn't done and kept pressing on by giving more punches and kicks. Due to his fatigue from such a long and hard fight, Yukan couldn't block them all and found himself receiving many hits to his torso and face.

"Do you think he will be okay?" Po asked, his enthusiasm having faded a bit after seeing his friend taking such a beating.

"He won't. He's done. Your friend has talent, but it's clear that this Daito guy is stronger. Too bad for him," Hong Ze commented with his arms crossed.

Kivuli silenced him almost immediately with a creepy glare. She then looked back at the raging fight with with a somewhat nervous look. "Come on, Yukan. You cannot lose; the honor of our Dojo is on the line!"

Daito stopped his attacks when he delivered enough blows to Yukan which left him with many bruises and knocked him down with a kick. He pinned him down with a foot on his back and then grabbed his wing with both paws. This looked somewhat familiar to the other participants... until they realized what was happening.

"Is he...?" Shining Eagle asked.

"NO!" Po suddenly exclaimed. "He's gonna break his wing! Just like he did with Crane!"

"Darn it!" Kivuli said, her purple eyes widening in horror.

"I won't deny that you gave me much more fun than Master Crane has done in the previous phase, Sunbird. However, the fun will have to end sooner or later. Time for me to take my ticket to the next round," Daito said, ready to snap Yukan's wing just as he did with Master Crane.

However, as he attempted to pull back, the wing did not move. The tiger realized his opponent was fighting back and looked down at his face to see him glaring in his direction, a fierce rage burning in his emerald eyes. Pushing a determined cry, he somehow managed to push Daito forward with his wing and get back up. Not wanting to give him any time to recover, the tiger charged toward him, launching his paw forward.

"IMPACT!" Yukan pushed Daito's paw sideways at the last second to avoid his explosive attack. He then got on the offensive again, starting with a knee strike to Daito's stomach followed by a headbutt directly to his nose, almost breaking it, and then performed a graceful moonsault to land behind him and catch his tail. He started spinning very fast before tossing the feline all the way across the fighting zone and directly into the arena's wall, letting him collapse with a loud thud.

"He's making a comeback!" Kira exclaimed.

"I'm reassured," Siax said with a paw on her chest. "I would've felt bad for Snow if his opponent would have lost so easily after beating him."

"Yukan is awesome!" Shining Eagle beamed. "Just one or two good-placed strikes and Daito's done for it! Right, Master? Master?" When she received no response, the avian turned to look at the old frog who still did not look away from the fight. But he did not smile. "Master, what's wrong?"

Back in the fighting zone, Daito got back up after dealing with the pain of Yukan's combo. "Darn it..." He used his Shard Teleportation to appear in the middle of the fighting zone, glaring at Yukan. "That was very impressive, I have to admit."

"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!" Yukan deadpanned with a glare. "Stop pretending that you're stronger than me! You can see very well that I'm on the verge of kicking you out of this tournament! So stop acting all high and strong, okay?"

Daito blinked his eyes a few times... before smirking. "That's what you think? Very well. In that case, allow me to show you...," he started focusing his energy around him, "... the maximum of my power!"

A light blue aura started appearing around Daito's body, making the ground around him shake a bit and cracks forming on the ground. This aura was... very powerful. So much that even some of the most experienced warriors in the arena like Grandmaster Shifu were surprised by it. "W-What's this power?!" Kira asked, his red eyes widening in shock.

"I don't know!" Master Tigress said, visibly looking just as shocked as the others. "How can he have such a powerful aura?!"

However, none of them were as surprised by Daito's revelation as Yukan was. His emerald eyes were open wide, not caring about the screams of the audience or the floor trembling underneath his feet. This tiger was really this powerful? Did it mean he could have squashed him like a fruit whenever he wanted and had been playing around with him all along?

No! That couldn't be! Yukan worked so hard his whole life to get where he was today. He fought in the court of the big guys! A mere mercenary couldn't have such a distant power level!

"What's wrong?" Daito asked, breaking the sun parrot out of his thoughts. "You're not attacking? Did you forget that we're in the middle of a match right here?"

"SHUT UP!" Narrowing his eyes, Yukan set both of his fists on fire once more and charged toward the tiger. "ROARING FIST!"

Before Yukan could reach him, Daito intensified his aura's presence, covering his whole body with a glowing blue light that left only his figure visible. Small debris created by their duel as well as dust was sent flying with the wind caused by his aura that reached even the audience. Kira Lee found himself falling from the barricade and onto his back while the other participants shielded their faces with their paws.

Then, something happened. Seeing the extent of his opponent's power, Yukan found himself slowing down before completely stopping. He stared blankly at the figure in the middle of the powerful aura as the flames from his wings extinguished because of the wind. Sweat started forming on the bird's feathers. What was he thinking? He couldn't attack such a powerful opponent when the distance in strength was so great...

"Why are you stopping?!" Daito asked. "Come at me! I want to see how strong you truly...?!"

Nobody could have expected what Yukan did next. He collapsed to his knees... and started crying. Tears rolled out of his eyes and down his cheeks. He planted his wings on the floor to prevent himself from falling and started sobbing like a kid who got hurt. He looked so... pathetic.

"W-What are you doing, Sunbird?" Daito asked, lowering his aura's presence.

"... I... I'm not... I'm not strong...," Yukan mumbled through his sobs. "I can't make a difference..."

The whole arena almost fell silent. They did not expect Master Sunbird who defeated the King of the Qidan Clan and made it to the final phase of the Legendary Tournament to fall down and cry in front of everyone. The masters of the Frog Dojo were the most surprised of the bunch.

"Y-Yukan?" Shining mumbled with a look of confusion and pity which was shared by Kodok.

"I understand that Daito is powerful, but not to THAT point," Kivuli mumbled.

Yukan trembled as he looked toward Nunzio. "R-Referee?"

"Yes, what is it, Master Sunbird?" the elephant asked.

"I... I quit."


	29. The eagle versus the elk

**Author's note: I was supposed to be at school today, but it just happened that both my teachers were absent on the same day. Big coincidence, isn't it? Thanks to this, I got a full day to work on this chapter and I'm very grateful to the gods for it :)**

When Nunzio asked him if he was sure about his decision, Yukan replied with a mere "yes...". He did not pay attention to Daito Shun screaming at him. He did not listen to the protestations of the audience or his friends. He simply turned around and started walking for the arena's exit instead of going back to the participants' stands. He wanted to get away from this arena, away from the pain and shame to forget that this fight ever happened. Pushing the doors open, he started walking through the arena's corridor, heading for the exit - he would have run, but the intensity of his match drained too much out of his body.

"I haven't learned anything..."

* * *

"Yukan! Wait, come back!" Kodok shouted. "Don't just go like this!"

As soon as Yukan crossed the exit door of the arena, Nunzio cleared his throat and spoke: "Participant Yukan Tori has forfeited the match! Therefore, the winner of the first encounter is Daito Shun!"

Following this announcement, the audience started chatting amongst themselves. The match had been very entertaining for them and they didn't expect any of the fighters to just drop out of nowhere like this. "Why did Yukan give up? He still had the force to fight, right?" one of the Frog Dojo's students asked.

"We can't really blame him," another one sitting beside him answered. "Did you sense the power of Daito? I would've been freaked out too at his place. He did the right thing by throwing the match before getting his butt kicked."

"You don't understand at all!" Shining Eagle suddenly said almost in a scolding tone. "It wasn't Daito's strength that made him give up!"

"What do you mean, Shining?" Kodok asked.

"Don't you remember, Kodok? Back when we were in Evergreen Village and fought against the Qidan Clan, he went head to head with Temutai, the Qidan King. You know how strong he was; much more than him. And yet, Yukan didn't turn back. He fought Temutai and won." She looked down. "I don't understand why he gave up. But I'm gonna go ask him and find out the truth."

"I'm coming with you," Kodok said as he and his avian friend stood up from their seats.

"Me too." They turned to see Master Shujinko pulling his teacup down and standing up. "I don't know what is troubling Yukan, but he needs as much support as we can give him. Let's go before he gets out of the arena."

* * *

"W-What just happened?" Po asked, completely confused and lost.

"What happened, Po, is that Master Sunbird got scared by his opponent's strength and decided to give up," Tigress explained her panda friend. She then let out a little scoff. "He has the guts to criticize us and all the Kung Fu community when he doesn't have the courage to face adversity. What a hypocrite."

"Don't say that!" Kivuli told the feline with a glare. "Yukan is not a coward. I don't know why he decided to throw the match, but it had nothing to do with Daito's power level."

"SUNBIRD! YOU BASTARD!" Everybody turned to see a visibly pissed off Daito coming back in the stands. "HOW DARE YOU GIVE UP LIKE THIS?! I WANTED A FIGHT TO THE FINISH! YOU... You..." He angrily kicked into a seat before sitting down. "Once this tournament is over, I'll find and have a serious discussion with him!"

"Why? You won your match; you should be happy," Hong Ze commented.

"I didn't want to win like this!"

The elk rolled his eyes. "What an idiot..."

"You know this means you're the last representative of the Frog Dojo, right?" Master Siax asked Kivuli.

The martial eagle looked down. It was true. With Kodok, Yukan, and Shining Eagle out, she was the only member of her Dojo remaining in the Legendary Tournament. She gulped at the pressure that now pushed down on her shoulders. But she wouldn't give up and would give her best to go as far as possible - even to win! She would bring honor to the Frog Dojo!

"Attention, everyone!" Nunzio called through speakers to make everyone hear his voice. "With the first match being over, we will not proceed to the second one! And for this, I call participants Hong Ze and Master Kivuli to join me in the fighting zone!"

All the eyes turned toward Hong Ze whose face became so pale you could have mistaken him for a ghost. Kivuli, in contrast, displayed one of her rare happy smiles and looked very bright. The gods were generous today: they gave her the chance to avenge her friend.

"This is gonna be fun to watch," Master Siax mumbled toward Kira, who nodded with a little smile.

On one side of the fighting zone, Hong Ze adjusted his robes, secretly preparing his hidden scimitars, and rubbing his sweat off. On the other side, Kivuli cracked her neck and wings in anticipation.

"You're still mad at me for beating your friend?" the elk asked. "Look, baby bird, it wasn't my fault; I just followed the rules of the tournament. One winner."

"It's not the fact that you defeated Shining Eagle that makes me mad at you," the martial eagle replied, a glare in her purple eyes. "If I'm mad at you, it's because you insulted her about something she is not even responsible for! How can you talk her down like this when her self-confidence is already low?"

Hong Ze scoffed with a wave of his hoof. "Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"Are both fighters ready?" Nunzio asked. while Hong Ze replied with a confident "Yeah!", Kivuli just gave a mere nod, not looking away from her opponent. "Then may the second match of the first round... BEGIN!"

Hong Ze couldn't help but gulp. While he did show a lot of his skills during his match in the previous phase, he barely saw his opponent in action. He knew she could summon a sword, but that's pretty much it. Kivuli, meanwhile, memorized his attacks during his match with Shining Eagle and also the fact that he kept scimitars hidden within his robes. She would need to be careful.

The martial eagle decided to make the first move by opening her wings and flapping them to charge at her opponent. Though he did not expect a direct attack from such a patient bird, Hong Ze managed to avoid what would have been a devastating kick. Not wanting to give him time to plan a strategy, she pressed her attack on with strikes from her wings and kicks as well.

Soon, the elk managed to find an opening by ducking a roundhouse kick and then jumped to throw both of his feet forward. Kivuli managed to block it with her wing and went for a kick to the side which connected, making Hong Ze groaning in pain.

"Strange, she hasn't used her sword yet," Kira Lee remarked.

"I bet she's waiting for Hong Ze to use his scimitars before taking out her own weapon," Master Siax said with rubbing her chin.

Kivuli launched her wing forward. Hong Ze dodged it with a perfect cartwheel and then delivered a kick to her back to cause her to lose her balance. She attempted to reply with a swing of her wing, which the elk ducked and hit a palm strike to her chest that would have knocked her to the ground, had she not flapped her wings to regain her balance.

"That's it!" Kivuli exclaimed impatiently, which was unusual as she was known to keep her cool in even the most dangerous situations. She opened her wings, and took off into the air before diving toward her opponent.

Hong Ze smirked as this was _exactly_ what he hoped she would. "She's making the same mistake as her other feathered friend!" he thought and prepared his scimitars. He waited... She came within his reach... He grabbed his two hidden weapons, ready to strike her wings-

"Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!"

Just as Hong Ze took out his scimitars to strike, a metallic CLANG! resonated as they got blocked by another, larger blade. To his surprise, the martial eagle was now holding the same purple-handled sword she used during her second phase match with its blade blocking his. "You really thought I was gonna make the same mistake as Shining, don't ya?" she asked with a grin.

Swearing under his breath, Hong Ze pushed himself back and started swinging his two scimitars at his opponent who easily blocked everything with her sword. Despite the elk's speed and agility, it was clear that the martial eagle was more experienced than him. The blades clashed over and over again, sending sparkles flying in the air.

"Let's go, Kivuli! you totally got this!" Po cheered.

"You're cheering for her too now?" Tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, she's the friend of my friend. So that makes her my friend too. Right?" Tigress just rubbed her eyes at her friend's logic.

"Come on! Come on!" Hong Ze impatiently grumbled as he kept swinging his swords over and over again, trying to break through his opponent's defense with no success.

"Alright, playtime's over!" Kivuli suddenly swung Purple Rainmaker to knock the scimitars out of Hong Ze's hooves with surprising ease before knocking him down with a leg sweep and then pointed the tip of her sword dangerously close to his face. "Now listen closely to me. As much as I'd like to peel you up after what you did to my friend, I still have a little mercy in my heart. So I'm gonna give you a chance to surrender... unless you wanna be turned into a skinless elk."

Hong Ze gulped nervously at this. "I... I surrender!"

Nunzio felt a bit surprised as Hong Ze was possibly one of the last participants he expected to lose via forfeit. "Participant Hong Ze has forfeited the match! Therefore, the winner of the second counter is Master Kivuli!"

The martial eagle pulled her sword away into her seal. "At this rate, everyone will lose this tournament by forfeit," she mused to herself. She looked at the audience, hoping to see her friends smiling... only to see Shining Eagle, Kodok, and Master Shujinko all absent. "... Don't tell me they missed my match!"


	30. The dog and the dragon

"Yukan! Yukan, where are you?" Shining Eagle called, running her way across the arena's backstage corridors. She, Kodok, and Master Shujinko had been searching for their friend for a few minutes now. They wanted to find him and find out why he decided to throw his match away. The golden eagle soon turned around a corner and spotted an orange figure approaching the exit doors leading out of the arena. "There he is! Yukan!"

Upon hearing this familiar voice, the sun parrot froze in his tracks. However, he did not turn around to look at them, even as they arrived behind him. "Yukan, there you are! We've been searching for you all around!" Kodok said. "What happened back there? You were about to take Daito out, but you decided to throw away the match."

Yukan frowned while hanging his head low, though the others could not see it. "I... I couldn't win... You saw the extend of his strength: it was way bigger than mine. I just... There was no point in continuing..."

"Don't give me that excuse!" Shining replied in a serious, firm tone. "That's not you, Yukan; even when your opponent is stronger than you, you still continue fighting until you win. You showed this when we faced Temutai in the Evergreen Village." She softened her expression and pulled her wing on her friend's shoulder. "Please, tell us what's bothering you..."

Somehow, the sun parrot managed to lift his emerald eyes to gaze into his friend's golden ones. "Is there something disturbing you, Yukan?" Master Shujinko asked carefully. The sun parrot took a moment before answering.

"It's just... I... It's hard to explain..." Yukan could only look at the floor and rub his eyes. He didn't know how to explain it. Was there even a _way_ to tell them everything? No. He could not: they would get mad at him and kick him out of the Frog Dojo, and then... he would be alone again...

Master Shujinko couldn't help but smile. That's why he always felt Yukan was different from your typical Kung Fu student; he always carefully thought about how to approach a situation instead of making up lies. He was wise, brave, compassionate, and strong... but maybe a bit stubborn and impatient. In fact, the old frog would go as far as saying that Yukan was just like him when he was a young frog learning Kung Fu. And he was glad to have everything to teach him.

"We should go back to the stands now," Shujinko softly said with putting his hand on Yukan's leg. Before his other two students could protest, he talked again: "We can wait for Yukan to take his time and decide when to explain everything to us once he's ready for it. There is no point in urging things in life. Now come on, I really wanna see the Dragon Warrior in action."

* * *

"For the next match, I call the following participants: Dragon Warrior Po Ping and Kira Lee!" Nunzio announced.

"Awesome! It's finally my turn to fight!" Po beamed with jumping on place.

"Just be careful around that guy, Po. You remember what he did to Viper," Tigress told him.

"Bah, no worries. I'm sure I can handle it," the panda replied with a wave of his paw as he made his way down in the fighting zone.

"This is going to be good," Mantis chimed from the audience.

"Let's go, Po!" Monkey cheered. "I'm sure you can win, right, Viper?" As an answer to this, the snake looked down at her stomach and remembered the violent hits she took during her fight with Kira. This made her shiver.

Kira Lee jumped down as well, sweating a bit on his neck. He was going up against the legendary Dragon Warrior who saved the Valley of Peace from Tai Lung, one of the strongest Kung Fu warriors to ever live? This would not be an easy fight.

Po and Kira stood on opposite sides of the fighting zone, emerald eyes meeting red ones as the atmosphere got tense around them. "I just want to say that I'm really excited to face you. I saw your match against Viper and it was too cool!"

"Really?" the little blue and black dog asked with blinking his eyes. "But... aren't you a bit mad that I hurt your friend so badly."

"Nah, don't worry about that. That's part of the tournament, and besides, she's still alive, right?" Po asked with a wave of his paw.

Kira couldn't help but blink his eyes again. He heard that the Dragon Warrior had a great and compassionate heart, but not to that point. Any other warrior would have held a grudge against him and do anything to kick him out of the competition.

Meanwhile, back in the audience, Master Shujinko and his three students went back to sit at their place, finding an open one for Yukan. "There you are, guys!" one of the Frog Dojo's students said. "Say, why did you throw the match-" he asked, only to get cut off by Shujinko who rose his hand and shook his head.

"So, did we miss anything?" he asked.

"Well, you missed the previous match between Kivuli and Hong Ze."

"Oh no! Did Kivuli win?" Shining Eagle asked in worry.

"Yup; she won her match and moved on to the next round." Hearing this, the friends minus Yukan all sighed in relief. "The next match is about to start: it's between the Dragon Warrior and Kira Lee."

"Really? This should be interesting," Shujinko said as he sat down and took his teacup to drink again.

"Are both fighters ready?" Nunzio asked.

"Always ready for action!"

"Yes, sir!"

"In this case, let the third match... BEGIN!"

Both fighters took their stance, Po cracking his neck while Kira tensed his muscles, waiting for the right time to strike. He closed his eyes, focused... then lunged forward when Po least expected it, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks. The panda managed to dodge and block the little dog's paws and feet, but not without difficulty. He waited for Kira's attacks to slow down a bit before allowing himself to be hit in his stomach.

"IRON BELLY!"

As the panda's plump stomach bounced back, the hit caused Kira to get knocked back. Po attempted to follow with another belly strike. Since he was too small to block it, Kira avoided it by performing a cartwheel and then went for a roundhouse kick to his opponent's head. Po managed to rise his arm in time to block the hit and then grabbed the dog's leg before he could follow with another attack. Smirking, he started spinning before tossing Kira toward the arena's wall. However, he managed to stop his crash course by planting both feet into the wall and then jumped down on the floor.

The dog panted a bit, looking up at his opponent who smirked at him. "Looks like I may have to fight harder than I did with Master Viper...," he thought.

"Come on, Po! Kick his ass!" Monkey cheered.

"I just hope Kira won't use his aura power as he did against me," Viper mumbled.

"GET READY TO FEEL THE THUNDA!" Po shouted as he charged forward and sent many strikes and kicks toward Kira who switched to a defensive stance. He managed to either dodge or block all of them, but found himself getting backed up dangerously close to the wall. Not wanting to get trapped, he performed a graceful moonsault to jump over the panda, but in the process left himself open for an attack. Po saw this and hit the dog with his rear end, knocking him a few feet away again.

"Did he just used his butt as a weapon?" Siax asked.

"Yup...," Kivuli replied.

Kira groaned while looking at his opponent with a glare. "I can't just lose like this! Otherwise, Xue and my friends will all be disappointed!"

"Here's another specialty of mine. PANDA ROLL ATTACK!" Po launched himself forward and started rolling like a bowling ball toward his opponent. However, if he thought his opponent didn't have a counterattack, he was wrong. Kira dropped himself on his back and used both his paws and his feet to push the rolling panda in the air.

"Finesse over brute strength! This counter was impressive!" someone in the audience complimented.

"And doing this despite the size difference. This little Kira deserves some respect," someone else said.

"Didn't see that coming," Po admitted as he got back up and rubbed his head in pain. As he did so, Kira used his chance to charge and hit a palm strike right into his stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs and making him spit saliva.

Unfortunately, the little dog did not stop there and kept hitting the panda's stomach over and over again, leaving some bruises. Soon, Po managed to block by catching his opponent's arm, lifted him in the air, and then slammed him hard on the floor. Kira groaned in pain because of this. Not wanting to give him time to recover, Po then jumped as high as he could and pulled his stomach forward.

"PANDA QUAKE!"

Kira widened his red eyes and rolled out of the way in time to avoid getting turned into a pancake. It was at this moment that he realized he would need to fight hard to win and created a glowing blue energy ball between his paws. "AURA SPHERE!" He shot the aura ball that flew right into Po's face, smacking him like a punch that stunned him out.

"Not that again!" Viper gasped with her tail on her mouth.

"Po, look out!" Tigress screamed.

The panda cleared his vision in time to see Kira launching another Aura Sphere toward him. If this little dog could unleash his hidden power, then so could he! Po rose his fist and charged his energy into his wrist. "DRAGON SHIELD!" Much to Kira's surprise, Po summoned a golden energy shield with the pattern of a Chinese dragon over it with his wrist and used it to block his Aura Sphere.

"What?!" he exclaimed.

"H-How did he do that?" Kivuli asked, blinking her eyes in surprise.

"What? You didn't know that Po also has powers?" Tigress asked with a grin.

"FLYING RING OF ENERGY!" From behind the blue mist caused by the Aura Sphere came a ring of green energy that slammed into Kira's midsection, the impact being strong enough to send him flying across the whole fighting zone and right into the arena's wall.

Master Shujinko blinked his eyes in surprise. "T-The Flying Ring of Energy? Did the Dragon Warrior really just pull one of the Twelve Impossible Moves?"

"The Twelve Impossible Moves, Master?" Kodok asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. Those techniques were created by the late Grandmaster Oogway to defeat stronger bandits and criminals. Originally, there were only seven of these, but Oogway's former student, Fenghuang, managed to create five additional ones, bringing it to a total of twelve. I didn't expect Master Shifu to teach these to the Dragon Warrior," the old frog explained.

"Just don't overuse these, Po, or you'll tire yourself out fast," Tigress mumbled. She turned her head and saw Kivuli with her eyes wide open as if she saw a ghost. However, she shook it away before anybody else could notice.

"Alright, I'm gonna finish this now!" Po declared as he brought his paws together and used his energy to create a fireball similar to the sun. "MONGOLIAN FIREBALL!" The panda tossed the burning sphere toward Kira and the particles around it started getting sucked into its fire. He hoped to suck Kira into the fireball and burn him enough to leave him out of condition to continue fighting.

But it did not happen as the little blue and black dog used his aura to create claws, which he planted into the floor, holding himself in place until the fireball faded away. As soon as it was done, the little canine charged toward his opponent again. The problem was that the use of two Impossible Moves along with his Dragon Shield drained a lot of energy out of Po. He could barely stand on one knee.

"Oh no..."

Kira used his aura to form a big sledgehammer which he smashed across the panda's face, knocking a tooth out of his mouth, and knocking him to the ground. Since the shock seemed violent, Nunzio quickly went to check on him. Po assured everything was fine and rose to his feet, ready to continue... just before collapsing on his face. "Participant Po Ping is no longer able to continue the fight! Therefore, the winner of this match is Kira Lee!"

"No! Po!" Tigress exclaimed, not believing that her panda friend actually lost the match. Kivuli was pretty surprised too, judging by her expression.

Kira panted in exhaustion and rubbed sweat off his forehead. Ignoring the cheering crowd, he looked at the Dragon Warrior who laid on the floor, unconscious. He fought well, but the use of Impossible Moves drained too much out of it, and Kira's attack was the finishing blow. The medical team soon arrived and pulled the panda (with a lot of difficulty) on a stretcher to take him away.

"There goes the best representative of our palace," Crane sighed sadly.

Even Grandmaster Shifu could not hide his disappointment. He would have liked so much to see the Dragon Warrior winning the Legendary tournament and bringing prestige to the Jade Palace. Now, he could only hope that Tigress would be the one to achieve this...

**Author's note: Both Yukan and Po eliminated in the first round of the final phase. Surprised? I bet most of you thought that these two would meet in the final match for a typical anime rival fight. Sorry if I disappointed you, but I didn't want to make this predictable.**

**Also, for those of you who don't remember the Impossible Moves, they were used by Fenghuang in the LOA episode "Owl Be Back". Po was also able to use them and matched Fenghuang with their use. However, I didn't want Po to be OP, so I gave them a high price in terms of energy.**

**So now, Daito Shun, Kivuli, and Kira Lee all qualified for the next round. There is one place left for either Tigress or Siax. Who will take it? Stay stunned to find out! And, as always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	31. Nerves and sand

Three out of the four first round matches passed. Everybody present in the coliseum knew what this meant. "It is time for the final match of the first round! For this, I call participants Master Tigress and Master Siax!"

The two felines jumped and landed almost at the same time in the fighting zone. The atmosphere around them became heavy and intense. Both of them were known for being very strong and, by some twist of fate, they also happened to be the final representative of their respective Kung Fu Dojo: the Jade Palace for Master Tigres and the Magic Kung Fu School for Master Siax. This meant that the winner would get to eliminate the other's Dojo from the competition.

"I made it just in time," Kodok said as he came back to sit down on his seat with a bag of popcorn in his lap.

"Can you feel this intensity too?" Shining Eagle asked.

"Yup," Yukan said with a nod. "This is gonna be a very hard match." The sun bird then mumbled something about wishing for Master Tigress to lose.

"The legendary leader of the Furious Five," the black panther said with putting a paw on her hip. "It is quite the honor of having the chance to face and eliminate you from the Legendary Tournament."

"Don't let your victory in the previous phase get to your head," the feline replied. "I'm gonna be a LOT harder to defeat. Probably even impossible."

"Master Tigress, Master Siax, are you ready for your match?" Nunzio asked.

"Always have been," Tigress said with cracking her neck and knuckles.

"Same here," Siax growled as her muscles tensed, ready to strike at any moment.

"In this case, let the fourth and final match of the third phase's first round... BEGIN!"

The two felines turned their eyes into slits as they took their respective fighting stance and blocked the sounds around them. They focused their senses to their maximum and waited for the other to make the first move. Eager to get things started, Tigress decided to be the one to do just that, launching herself at the black panther with unrelenting ferocity without lowering her guard for more as she had no idea what her opponent was capable of.

She threw an onslaught of fast and powerful punches and kicks, hoping to end this fight quickly. However, to her surprise, the black panther managed to avoid all of them with graceful and agile movements that left her attacks barely touching her fur. In fact, the way she rhythmically moved through her opponent's attacks made it look more like she was dancing rather than fighting.

"What's this Kung Fu style?" Yukan asked in the audience.

"I can answer that," a voice said from behind him. Yukan turned around to see a familiar white-furred animal.

"Snow Kid?!"

The yeti nodded with a smile before looking back at the ongoing match. "Siax has a special Kung Fu style that she herself created. She calls it the Thousand Veils Dance. As the name implies, this fighting style is more akin to a dance more so than a form of physical combat, relying more on graceful movement and agility rather than brute force. The style itself is more passive and relaxed rather than outright aggressive as Siax will rhythmically move through the enemy's attacks, exploiting even the smallest opening to strike."

"Dancing can be a fighting style now?" Kodok asked after swallowing some popcorn. "We learn a bit more every day."

Getting tired of missing all her attacks, Tigress slapped her paws around Siax's head to stun her for a moment. The striped feline then jumped upward and looked to hit a devastating flip kick to her opponent and end this match. However, the black panther recovered just in time to avoid the attack with a cartwheel. Tigress' foot still created a small crater in the floor, just like in the previous matches.

"COME ON, TIGRESS! KICK HER TAIL!" Po cheered.

"Can they just get this done so that we can move on? I'm bored," Daito yawned.

"You're the only one who's bored here, pal; I think this match is very interesting," Kivuli remarked.

Having had enough of being on the defensive for so long, Siax started fighting back with a barrage of punches and kicks of her own. Not a single one of them touched the striped feline, but this last one could not deny she was having a hard time keeping up with her opponent's agility and unpredictability. "You're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna beat me!"

"Oh, don't worry about that!" With a swift swing of her paw, Siax sent a small jet of sand into Tigress' face, hitting her eyes. Tigress flinched and rubbed her blinded eyes, giving her opponent a chance to deliver a strong kick into her chest. Not only did she feel like her torso's bones were breaking, but the striped feline was also sent flying into the arena's wall, crashing brutally and causing cracks to form in the surface.

"W-Where did that sand come from?" Shining Eagle asked in surprise. "She has sand powers?"

"Exactly," Snow Kid confirmed. "It's her elemental power. Very rare, but Siax is a blessed girl."

Tigress rose to her feet and stumbled a bit as she felt staggered, her vision being blurry and her head spinning. "Looks like I'll have to go harder on this," she thought with rubbing some blood off of her head.

She then charged on all four toward the black panther, roaring, and making her paws glow with a strange red light. Siax widened her eyes as she started moving in a dance-like fashion to avoid the glowing paws. "This technique, is that...?!"

"Wow! I didn't know she could use this technique!" Shining exclaimed.

"What technique is that?" Yukan asked with a confused look.

"It's the Nerve Strike Technique: if she hits a certain point of the body, this part can become paralyzed. It's even worse if she hits an important nerve."

Realizing she couldn't dodge forever, Siax ducked one last attack before launching her paw forward for a palm strike at her opponent. Little did she know, this was EXACTLY the opening Tigress was waiting for. Grabbing her wrist with her paw, the striped feline planted a pressure-point attack into her shoulder, paralyzing her arm entirely. She followed by also hitting her other arm and her back bones to neutralize her legs as well.

"It's over," Tigress declared with pointing a paw toward the black panther. "You will not be able to move for a few hours. I recommend you surrender if you don't want me to knock you out.

"... Fine, I surrender," Siax said after sighing.

"Participant Master Siax has surrendered the match! Therefore, the winner and final one to qualify for the next round is Master Tigress!"

The audience erupted into a wave of cheers as Tigress panted a bit from such a strong fight. The medical team came to escort Siax to the infirmary and give her the appropriate treatment before her paralysis would become too lethal. Looking around, the striped feline saw her friends cheering for her - Po the most.

"THAT WAS AWESOME, TIGRESS! THE GREATEST FIGHT IN THE STORY OF AWESOMENESS!" She rolled her eyes at her friend's enthusiasm.

"And so ends the first round of the final phase," Shining Eagle said. "We're getting close to the end."

"Yeah." Yukan started counting his feathers. "Now, the remaining participants are Kivuli, Daito, Kira Lee, and Master Tigress. The strongest ones of this tournament." The sun parrot gulped a bit; he didn't have anything against Kira Lee, but he didn't want to see either Daito or Master Tigress winning the tournament.

"You must win at all cost, Kivuli..."

**Author's note: Honestly, that wasn't my best match. I wasn't sure on how to write a feline fight between two opponents we barely know anything about. But now, it looks like the Magic Kung Fu School got eliminated from the tournament.**

**Kivuli, Daito Shun, Kira Lee, and Tigress are the last participants in the tournament. This means there are only three fights left. Who do you think is gonna win? Let me know in the reviews and, as always, may the gods watch over you all.**


	32. Start of the second round

With the first round being over, the Legendary Tournament staff allowed an hour of break time for the participants. This was the perfect opportunity for the watchers to stretch their legs after remaining in a sitting position for so long... and also to use the restrooms. For the participants, it was a chance to rest before the next round, eat a little bit, and go talk with their friends who came to watch the tournament.

"You did great, Kivuli!" Shining Eagle praised her friend. The martial eagle decided to go see her friends in the audience during the break time she was given. They all gave her words of praise and encouragement, hoping she would win the tournament.

"I agree," Kodok said. "There's only two more rounds to go. I recognize that the three others are very strong, but I'm sure you can win this, Kivuli."

"Thanks, guys," the eagle replied with a little smile. "My fight with Hong Ze wasn't that challenging, but it can be assumed the upcoming fights will be much harder." She then turned to look at Yukan. "But before the next round begins, I'd like to know why you decided to throw your match away, Yukan."

The sun parrot looked down. "I'm... not feeling like talking about it right now." He expected Kivuli to act like the others and insist on him explaining the reason behind his actions. However, she did not.

"Okay," she simply said. "I won't force you if you don't want to. But if you ever wanna talk about it, you can come to me, okay?"

"Sure, thanks," the sun parrot replied with a smile, appreciating his eagle friend's support.

* * *

Before long, the break time came to an end and the tournament staff led the participants back to their place on the lower seats. The audience came back as well, eager to see if the second round of the final phase would be as exciting as the first one. "Ladies and gentlemen, the break time is officially over and we are now going to start the second round of the third phase!" announced Nunzio from the center of the arena, receiving cheers from the audience. "Without any further due, we will start the first match of this round! For this, I call participants Daito Shun and Master Kivuli!"

Upon hearing this, Kivuli's purple eyes widened a bit. She would go up against the tiger who defeated Yukan? A similar sensation of nervosity ran among the other members of the Frog Dojo upon hearing this announcement.

Anticipation rose to high levels as the two participants met in the middle of the arena with Nunzio standing between them. While the tiger seemed pretty impatient and pissed off, the avian attempted to keep a neutral expression. "You're one of Sunbird's friends, right?" Daito asked. "So tell me, why did you give up our match like this? I want an answer!"

The silence that Kivuli gave him as an answer caused the tiger to feel even more angry. This wouldn't be an easy fight. "Participants, are you ready for this match?" Nunzio asked them, though he already knew the answer. "Very well, let the first match of the second round... BEGIN!"

With nothing to hold his anger back now, Daito immediately charged forward on the offensive. Kivuli found herself backing off to dodge and deflect the feline's aggressive blows. However, even she could not stand against such an offense for so long and ended up receiving a punch to the stomach followed by a kick to her side which knocked her a few feet away.

"Geesh! That's not a good start for Master Kivuli," Po remarked in the audience.

"If Sunbird had a hard time against him, I doubt Kivuli can do better," Monkey added.

Coughing a bit after the hits she received, Kivuli looked up in time to see Daito charging at her once again. She managed to roll out of the way in time to avoid a punch that created a small hole in the floor. This gave her the chance to deliver a spin kick across his jaw and then a wing palm strike to his chest which sent him flying back. Though his feline agility allowed him to regain his balance at the end.

The distance between them finally allowed Kivuli to raise her wing and summon her purple seal. "Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!" With her sword in wing, the martial eagle took her usual fighting stance and was ready to give her opponent a true challenge.

"Alright, she managed to summon her sword!" Kodok beamed. "Daito's in for a world of hurt now!"

Not wanting to be forced on the defensive again, Kivuli flapped her wings to take to the air and darted toward her opponent like an arrow. Just as she expected, he used his Shard Teleportation to send energy spikes in her direction. Smirking, she used her sword to deflect all of them and then turned to see the feline appearing many feet away from her. "Gotta do better than that!"

Daito charged and swung his fists at the martial eagle who swiftly dodged him with her agility. She then slashed her sword across the tiger's abdomen, leaving a little cut there as he pulled back at the last second to avoid what would have been a deadly slash. The avian pressed on her attacks, pushing the tiger back before deciding to use one of her techniques.

"DEMON SLASH!" Unleashing her powerful attack with her sword, Kivuli ran through Daito who was sent flying into the air in the process. "And that's not all! TIGER SLASH!" Waiting for him to get back down, Kivuli used her sword to slash into the feline, also slamming him hard onto the ground in the process.

"Wow! You've seen this? That was amazing!" Shining Eagle exclaimed, impressed by her friend's attack.

Panting, the martial eagle rested her sword on her shoulder, hoping that her attacks were strong enough to keep the crazy tiger down for good. Her hopes were quickly pulled away, however, as the sound of steps could be heard and revealed Daito still standing up after the attacks, rubbing some blood off his fur. "What?! My combo wasn't enough?!"

"Those were strong attacks, I'll give you that," Daito chuckled as he cracked his neck. "But you'll need to do better if you wanna beat me, Master Kivuli!"

The tiger charged once again, swinging his fists, which Kivuli blocked with her Purple Rainmaker sword. The feline attacked with a right hook which the martial eagle ducked, but, unfortunately, couldn't do the same with the next punch which she received right in the face, causing her to get knocked away into the arena's wall.

"I-Is she out?" Kira asked as he watched the match with the utmost attention.

"No; look," Master Tigress replied with pointing at the avian who managed to stand back up despite the violent hit.

Seeing Kivuli getting back up, Daito let out a scoff and smirked. "You're resilient, Master Kivuli, I'll give you that. However, this match is far from being as interesting as the one I had with Sunbird. I suggest you throw the match away before I have to seriously injure you."

_"Remember, Kivuli: there are swordsmen in this world who can cut anything but chooses to not cut anything. From my point of view, a good sword should always be used to protect what the user cherishes the most; if a sword just cuts anything indiscriminately, then it's not really a good sword. Only you can know when you'll be ready to cut through anything..."_

As she heard this voice from the past, Kivuli shot her purple eyes open as they were now burning with determination. "I will not lose; the Frog Dojo is counting on me!" She rose her sword in the air and it started glowing with purple energy.

Daito blinked at this, narrowing his eyes and charging his blue energy around his body. "Very well then, it'll end like this!"

"They're going for the final blow!" Yukan exclaimed, widening his emerald green eyes.

Kivuli and Daito glanced at each other, seeking for the best opening in the other's stance. Then, after what felt like an eternity, but was actually ten seconds, the two pushed a battle cry and charged forward, screaming: "DEMON SLASH/IMPACT!" The two warriors ran past each other before coming to a complete stop. The audience was looking in anticipation, looking to see who had won the match.

One of the figures fell to the floor. "The match is over! And the winner is... Daito Shun!"

The feline fell on his knees, clutching his shoulders where his opponent's attack left him a terrible, deep cut. The crowd cheered wildly for him, but he did not care. Turning his head, he saw Kivuli had passed out on the floor, her purple sword resting beside her. She fought well, but in the end, Daito proved himself to be superior. The medical team quickly arrived to pull the unconscious avian on a stretcher.

The audience and other participants looked as Kivuli was carried away. "K-Kivuli... lost?!" Shining Eagle asked in disbelief.

"But then, it means...," Kodok mumbled, knowing what this meant.

"I'm afraid so, kids," Master Shujinko confirmed in an unusual sad tone. "With Kivuli gone, there is no one left to represent the Frog Dojo in the tournament."

The moral of the Dojo members dropped to the floor upon realizing this. "Should we leave then?" someone suggested.

"No," Yukan said. "I wanna know who's gonna win the tournament. This could be interesting."


	33. Paws and stripes

"For the second and final match of the second round, I call participants Kira Lee and Master Tigress!"

Kira gulped nervously as he knew - and saw - the ferocity of the Furious Five leader. Truth to be told, he did go up against strong opponents in his life, but he did learn one thing: never underestimate your opponent, no matter how much experience you gain. Turning his head, he saw the feline cracking her neck and graciously jumping down in the fighting zone, eager to fight. Deciding not to make her mad by making her wait, the young dog did the same.

"Hey, isn't that the guy who took Viper out of the tournament?" Master Monkey asked.

"Yes, he is," Viper confirmed with nodding her head. "I just hope that Tigress will succeed where I failed."

"And she's gonna have to hit hard. This guy managed to beat me too, so he's a real threat to take seriously," Po pointed out.

"Almost," Mantis mumbled and snickered with Monkey.

Tigress and Kira met in the middle of the fighting zone. After replying "yes" to Nunzio when he demanded them if they were ready, they immediately took their respective fighting stance, staring deeply into red and amber eyes. "If I remember correctly, this guy possesses aura powers. That's how he defeated Po and Viper," the feline thought. This wouldn't be an easy clash as the dog's fighting style was very similar to hers.

Growling, Tigress made the first move and rushed at Kira. She attempted to cause a lot of damage earlier on by hitting her signature double palm strike. However, she underestimated the canine's address as he flipped on both paws and delivered a swift, powerful kick right to her jaw. She was sent flying backward and somehow managed to land on all four before hitting the arena's wall.

Lifting her head, Tigress rubbed a paw over her sore jaw, glaring at her opponent. His red eyes reflected nothing but focus and hostility, his fighting stance looking flawless. "I will show her the strength of the Fighting Clan. The strength of the Shen Dynasty. I will not disappoint Master Xue."

This time, Kira was the one to get on the offensive, charging at his opponent and unleashing a fluffy of palm and knee strikes. She managed to dodge and parry all of them until Kira landed a roundhouse kick to the side of her head, stunning her long enough for him to follow with a palm strike to the chest which pushed her back many feet away.

"This little guy is tough!" Kodok exclaimed.

"Looks like the leader of the Furious Five isn't as strong as her reputation leads to think," Yukan said with a little grin as his wings were crossed.

Groaning, Tigress performed a backflip to dodge another attack from Kira, getting on the defensive once again after landing. The canine went for a punch which the feline caught in her palm and replied with a punch of her own which he also caught in his palm. Neither of them having the intention to let go of the other, they started attacking with their knees. They collided every time, creating small shock waves.

"Enough!" Tigress screamed before delivering a violent headbutt to Kira's face and jumping in the air to go for an axe kick. However, Kira managed to recover from his stun just in time to roll out of the way. Not releasing the pressure, Tigress overwhelmed Kira with a storm of strikes which he managed to dodge for the most part, but some of them managed to hit the target.

Eventually, he managed to duck one strike and jump to hit a knee to her jaw which stunned her. Not wanting to give his opponent a chance to recover, he delivered many punches into her stomach followed by a palm strike to her cheek. He was going to land another one, but she caught his paw with her own without looking. She slowly turned her head to glare at him, growling softly.

"This kid is dead, isn't he?" Mantis asked.

"Totally," Crane and Monkey replied at unison.

The poor dog only got time to give a nervous smile before Tigress gave him a powerful punch to the guts, which knocked the air out of him and sent him flying many feet away. He coughed a bit of saliva before getting back up and seeing the feline charging at him on all four. She launched herself in midair and held her paws back as far as she could.

"Oh no, not that move!" Shining said, tempted to cover her eyes.

Kira somehow managed to spin dodge Tigress' attack, leaving her open for an attack. Smirking, he held his paws near her torso and focused his energy. "Aura Sphere!" The glowing light blue ball pushed into Tigress' stomach, dragging her into the arena's wall where it exploded. The poor feline fell on all fours, clutching herself in pain.

"She's hurt!" Po exclaimed.

"I just hope she still has the strength to fight," Crane said.

Unfortunately for Tigress, Kira did not stop there and used his aura power to send little glowing blue straps like the ones he used to restrain Master Viper, only this time, there were four instead of three. They pinned all of Tigress' limbs against the arena's wall, her wrists and ankles. He then charged forward to his immobilized opponent and started hitting her in the jaw and stomach.

"Oh no! Not again!" Viper said in fear for her sister.

"Looks like she's done for it," Kodok remarked. "There's no way she can break out of this."

No. Tigress would not lose like this. She would not surrender the match, getting the Jade Palace out of the Legendary Tournament, and disappoint her friends and master. Pushing a ferocious growl which made her spit some blood, she somehow managed to BREAK the aura straps with her raw strength.

"W-What?!" Kira exclaimed, his red eyes widened in surprise.

Tigress' ones turned into slits and she started delivering violent punches and kicks to the little dog, ending with her signature double palm strike which sent him flying many feet away. He groaned, clutching his body in pain and getting back on his little feet. Everyone could tell that both fighters were getting tired by this point.

"The next attack must be the last," Tigress mumbled as she held her paws forward and made them glow red.

"The Nerve Strike technique. If she's going all out, then so will I," Kira mumbled as he made his paws glow with aura energy.

The feline and canine pushed a battle cry at the same time before charging forward, ready to give their final attack. Tigress launched her paws toward Kira's torso, hoping to strike the right nerves and immobilize him for good. However, he moved out of the way at the last second and managed to plant both of his paws into Tigress' stomach, sending a wave of aura through her body. Both fighters remained still for a moment before the feline collapsed on the floor.

"Participant Master Tigress is no longer able to continue this fight!" Nunzio announced after checking on Master Tigress. "Therefore, the winner of this match is Kira Lee!"

The black and blue dog collapsed on his rear as this match drained a lot out of him. He was just happy he managed to win this without revealing too much. He looked up as the medical team picked Tigress up and carried her away. He then looked to the audience to see a very disappointed Jade Palace group.

"And there goes the final Jade Palace representative," Master Crane sadly said.

"This really sucks," Mantis said in the same tone.

"At least she fought bravely," Po positively said. "I'll be sure to congratulate her after the tournament."

Back in the fighting zone, Kira Lee turned his head toward Daito Shun, who stared at him from the audience. The last match was decided: Daito Shun versus Kira Lee...


	34. The Legendary Tournament's final

The rest of the day was fairly quiet as it should be, considering all the action that happened in the Jade Palace Coliseum Arena in only a few hours. The tournament staff wanted the two remaining participants to rest as much as they could so that they could be at their top game for the big finale. Daito spent all this time at the buffet reserved for the participants, eating all the food he could eat and drinking all the alcohol his system could take without affecting his capacities. Kira, meanwhile, simply sat in his room and meditated.

By the time eve night came, everyone was at the peak of excitation. Despite knowing they were no longer in the tournament, every Kung Fu school such as the Frog Dojo, Jade Palace, and the Magic Kung Fu School were feeling pretty excited to see this final match which promised to be epic. Po was already jumping around in the audience, boasting about the awesomeness of the upcoming match, much to the annoyance of his friends. Yukan, on the other end, was completely silent. While his friends around him were talking about their predictions for the match, he did nothing but look at the fighting zone, reading to see what it truly meant to be strong.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Nunzio called loudly, almost instantly silencing the crowd. The referee elephant proudly stood in the middle of the fighting zone, looking at the large, excited audience. "I hope you all have used the last six hours to rest well because it is time for the great final match of the Legendary Tournament!"

This announcement caused him to receive a loud wave of cheers from the audience. The anticipation rose higher than before. "The winner of this match will be crowned Legendary Tournament Champion and receive a reward of a million yuan! Allow me now to introduce the two participants! First, to my left, he comes from Japan and is known as the Aura Master, KIRA LEE!"

The crowd cheered wildly for the young black and blue dog. Despite feeling honored by such reception, the young canine replied with a simple bow to everyone with a fist in the palm of his paw.

"And to my right, coming to us from the Tien Shan mountain range in Northwestern China, he is known as the Ghostly Assassin and the Mercenary of the Dead, DAITO SHUN!"

Ignoring the cheers he received from the audience, the tiger kept his amber eyes firmly locked onto his opponent. When the time came for the two opponents to get face to face, he talked to him in a low, deadly tone: "Now listen to me, puppy. I participated in this tournament, not for the prize or to impress anybody; I wanted to face strong fighters and get pushed to my limits. So far, Master Crane did not pose that much of a challenge, Sunbird gave up before we could have a decisive winner, and Kivuli did not satisfy my thirst in the slightest. This puts me in a TERRIBLE mood. So you better give me your best or I do not guarantee you will leave this arena in one piece. Got it?"

Kira gulped nervously at such threats before glaring back and cracked his neck. He wouldn't waste his energy trading insults with this crazy feline; he made a promise to his master and friends. And he would fulfil it at any cost.

Nunzio looked back and forth between them, feeling the tension rising in the air. He could tell this would be a violent encounter. After waiting a few seconds to let the tension in the air drop a bit, he cleared his throat. "Now, without any further due, let the final match of the Legendary tournament... BEGIN!

If there was any doubt about Daito's seriousness in his threats before the match, they all faded away when the tiger immediately charged at Kira, thrusting his paw forward. "IMPACT!" The little dog managed to pull his head out of the way in time to avoid the explosion that would have undoubtedly caused a lot of damage.

Not stopping there, the tiger pressed on his attack by going for a storm of strikes which Kira managed to either block or dodge. This all came to an end when Daito landed a knee strike into his stomach, making him spit saliva, and immediately jumped in the air, going for an axe kick. After recovering from the knee strike, Kira saw him coming and rolled out of the way, letting his opponent creating a little crater in the floor.

"Geez! Daito's not holding back at all!" Kodok remarked with a frown.

"You think it's my fault?" Yukan innocently asked, rubbing the back of his head.

Growling, Daito pulled himself out of the crater he created and charged at Kira for a knee strike which the little canine managed to block with both of his paws, then ducked a right to jump and deliver a knee strike to the tiger's jaw followed by another one and then a palm strike that knocked him back a few feet away.

Spitting saliva, Daito walked back in front of Kira and focused his energy, making it glow in light blue around his body. Not allowing himself to be intimidated, Kira did the same, his aura also glowing light blue. This caused the atmosphere to feel heavy around them, their eyes locked and not wanting to focus on anything else.

After what felt like an eternity, but was actually a few seconds, the two warriors clashed once again, throwing strikes and kicks which they both blocked or dodged. Eventually, they both went for a punch which touched each other's cheek at the same time, knocking them back from each other.

Panting in exhaustion from such an intense encounter, Daito looked up at Kira with a grin. "I've gotta admit that, for a shrimp, you're not half bad."

"And for a wild beast with no brain, you're pretty good too," Kira replied with a smirk.

The little dog found himself performing a backbend just in time, dodging Daito's incredibly fast horizontal strike. Before the feline could do anything else afterwards, Kira wrapped one arm around his neck, delivering a firm headbutt to his nose.

"Ouch! That's gotta hurt!" Mantis remarked with a wince.

Daito staggered a bit, pulling a paw over his hurting nose, and Kira got on him again before he could even blink, slamming his foot into Daito's nose once again. But Daito was smart. He used the momentum of Kira's strike to roll onto his back, planting his feet into the black and blue dog's chest, and monkey flipping him onto his back. This put a fair amount of distance between them, giving Daito time to recover.

The feline then touched a paw to his nose, his fingers coming out all red. This made him clutch his paw into a fist and glare with even more rage. "You're gonna regret that, dog boy!"

Kira rose to his feet and was nearly snapped in half as Daito's fist came down in a lethal overhead swing. He barely got his paws up in time to catch the other fist in a parry. The hateful expression on the feline's face was... terrifying. Kira took advantage of his stumble, stomping down hard on his foot, and sent his palm forward to hit Daito in the guts, knocking the air out of it.

He then performed a moonsault to put some distance between them and created a glowing light blue ball of energy between his paws. "Aura Sphere!" The ball flew quickly toward Daito, the feline looking up in time to see it coming.

"SHARD TELEPORTATION!" As the tiger faded away into smoke, leaving many energy spikes flying everywhere, the Aura Sphere narrowly missed him, hitting the arena's wall instead. He reappeared behind him and, this time, Kira wasn't able to move out of the way in time to avoid the paw touching his torso. "IMPACT!" The explosion sent the little canine flying through the whole fighting zone and into the arena's wall once again.

"My gosh! This looked like it hurt for poor Kira," Shining Eagle remarked with a look of pity.

"Yup, it does hurt," Yukan and Kivuli confirmed at the same time.

Pulling a paw over the burning mark on his torso, Kira groaned in pain, keeping one of his red eyes closed. Things did not look good. No matter how many times he hit him, Daito seemed to always come back stronger than before. He looked up to see the feline looking at him with an air of superiority. "Are you ready to give up yet?"

"Forget that! I'm barely getting warmed up!" the dog replied with a look of defiance, taking his fighting stance once again.

Growling, Daito started running and Kira did the same, deciding to go meet him on the offensive. As he launched an aura-charged fist forward, Daito went for his Impact once again. When the two attacks collided, it created a small explosion, sending both fighters flying backward. Kira would be hitting the wall once again since he was closer to it.

However, the little dog was ready this time, using his feet to prevent himself from slamming into the wall once again, and landed safely on the floor. Looking up to see a stunned Daito, he smirked and created another ball of aura with his paws which he launched, making them turn into straps midair once again to pin his opponent against the arena's wall just like he did with Master Tigress and Master Viper.

"Not again!" Viper mumbled with a frown. Tigress silently winced as well.

Kira charged forward and reached his opponent to deliver a storm of strikes in his face and guts, ending with a knee strike directly into his crotch. This caused all the men in the audience to let out painful noises and hold their own parts while wincing in pity for poor Daito. He spat quite some blood, choking from having the red liquid in his nose AND mouth.

However, his eyes narrowed into slits and he pushed a loud roar, breaking the aura straps and forcing a hole into the wall behind him with his aura. Before the surprised dog could react, he found his head trapped into the feline's paws. Not even having the chance to break free, Daito used his Impact technique with both paws at full power, creating a violent explosion that launched Kira high into the air.

The poor dog's scream echoed throughout the whole arena before he came back down and crashed hard on the arena floor. Having landed on his head, Kira got knocked out by the impact, his body now lying in the middle of the arena, bruised, bloody, and burnt, especially on his torso and head. Daito collapsed to one knee due to the energy he had to give into this attack, looking at his opponent while panting.

Nunzio approached little Kira to check on him. After many seconds, he turned to give his decision. "Kira Lee is no longer able to continue. Therefore, I have no choice but to declare the winner of this match and of the Legendary Tournament, DAITO SHUN!"

It took the audience a moment to proceed what just happened... before they all burst into a storm of cheers and applause. Even the masters of the Jade Palace and the Frog Dojo - including Yukan - applauded the feline champion. Not wanting to be a jerk, he took time to wave one paw at the audience. He turned to see Kira Lee getting taken away by the medical team. "He did put on a good fight, I won't deny it..."

Just then, the tournament staff allowed the other competitors to come down and congratulate the new champion. Covered with all this attention, the feline responded rather friendly before turning his attention to Yukan who also came to congratulate him.

"Congratulations, Daito. That was an impressive fight," the sun parrot praised with a smile.

"Thank you... But do not go think that I've forgotten about you, Sunbird. You owe me a rematch." Daito poked a finger into Yukan's chest. "You and I are gonna clash again in the future, and you better bring up your A-game or I will not respond of my actions."

Yukan chuckled a bit in response. "I'll be looking forward to that." While Daito returned the friendly smile, Yukan didn't notice that Shining Eagle was giving him a worried look from the side.

* * *

And just like this, the Legendary Tournament was over. The staff and all the visitors who came from far away to assist the event left the very next morning, the calm left in the city feeling very strange after such excitation. It would feel weird to wake up the next morning and going back to the way things used to be before the legendary event.

Yukan got to see Po one last time before leaving the arena after Daito's victory, the two friends wishing each other good luck, hoping to meet again in the future, and shook paws and wings. They left back to their respective Dojo after this.

That same night, Master Shujinko held a celebration party at the Frog Dojo for the occasion. The students were having a lot of fun, singing songs in unison, eating food and drinking delicious drinks, dancing, and just having fun in general. The ambiance was very joyful despite the fact that the Frog Dojo did not win the Legendary Tournament.

"Why are we celebrating, Master?" Yukan asked Shujinko when the party started. "It wasn't one of us who won the tournament. Our participation was a failure."

Shining Eagle, Kivuli, and Kodok were present as well before their little master who finished taking a sip from a tea cup before answering. "A failure?" He chuckled a bit. "Yukan, there was no failure for you in this tournament. I knew that you would not win this tournament."

"You did?" Kodok asked with a surprised look.

"Yes, Kodok. Don't get me wrong; you are all strong and very talented. However, you still have a lot to learn before reaching your full potential. There are many animals in China and beyond who are stronger than you." He took another sip of his tea and smiled. "However, you did one thing that most other participants did not: you fought bravely and you honored my Dojo. In other words, you made me proud. You pushed yourselves to your limits because you wanted to prove yourselves in front of the world. Continue like this, and soon, even the Kung Fu Council will want to take you as members. And besides... with the performances you did in front of so many important people, we can expect to receive more mission demands in the following days, so we might as well have some fun before!"

The students couldn't have been more touched by what Shujinko said. Being told by your master that he is proud of you brings a joy that could not be matched by anything else. The celebrations continued all night long. Kodok sang one of the songs from the swamp he grew into, many other students joining him. Kivuli held a drinking contest which she easily won. Shining Eagle danced to the songs with joy.

As for Yukan, he sat in his corner, drinking a cup of sake and eating a plate of exotic fruits. He watched his friends having fun with a smile. It has been such a long time since he shared a moment of celebration with animals he could qualify friends. He then turned his head to look at the star-filled sky through the window.

"I didn't have so much fun in so long. It's so good to feel... like you belong. I will do everything I can to make it work this time..."

The sun parrot was brought out of his thoughts by Shining Eagle who grabbed him by the wing. "Come on, Yukan! Let's dance together!"

"W-What?! No, I don't dance!" the sun parrot stuttered and protested as he found himself getting dragged to the 'dance floor'.

**Author's note: First of all, a big thanks to all of you who followed my story up to that point. Even if I receive little to no reviews, favorite, or follow at all, I still have fun writing this.**

**I also wanna thank SkyBornTickler and The Grey Coincidence, who allowed me to use their OCs, Daito Shun and Hong Zhe respectively. They were fun to use and I hope maybe I'll have the chance to make them appear again in the future.**

**Now, the Legendary Tournament arc is over - it was the longest arc I ever wrote. However, this story is far from being over. Our friends from the Frog Dojo still have many adventures ahead, many challenges to overcome, and many bad guys to beat. They are gonna learn to become stronger and make their bonds grow hard.**

**Also, yes, don't worry, you will learn about Yukan's backstory in the mean time.**

**Except that, a huge thanks once more, constructive reviews are welcome, and may the gods watch over you all.**


	35. Dragon and Capoeira

**Author's note: It is time to begin a new chapter of The Frog Dojo, my friends! New adventures ahead and... well, that's pretty much it. Let's go!**

The light of the setting sun glowed over the mountain trees. A thick wall of snow covered the ground on this silent evening with the birds happily chirping and the wind creating a melody with the tree leaves. A beautiful, peaceful village laid at the feet of this mountain. The perfect image of what one could wish from such a place: harmless residents, kids running around while laughing, and everyone just enjoying life as it came and went. The people of this village consisted of farmers, cooks, and dancers.

However, even the most serene place in China wasn't safe from the shadows of danger. A certain group loomed in the dark, their sinister eyes glowing as they stared at the villagers going on with their everyday lives. A particular pair of golden eyes seemed more malicious and excited than the others. "Should we attack now, boss?"

A pair of lips twisted into a sinister grin below those golden eyes. "Of course. Why should we wait any longer? Attack!"

Then, the calmness was destroyed by coyotes who leaped into the village, the alarmed villagers screaming and running in panic as their homes were getting destroyed and set on fire...

* * *

"Come on, come on, baby! I can do it!" Yukan nervously mumbled as he pressed the buttons of the arcade machine.

"You are not going to win this one, orange face!" Kivuli replied with a smirk as she also pressed the machines' buttons, but with more precision and agility. "Aaaand... I WIN!" she beamed as the arcade machine declared: "WE HAVE A WINNER!"

"Aww, dang it!" Yukan groaned, crossing his wings with a pouting look. "How can you beat me like this? You don't even play arcade games that often!"

"Comes naturally I guess," the martial eagle replied with a smug look. "Besides, it doesn't help that I've chosen a Capoeira fighter while you chose a kickboxer; everybody knows that Capoeira is already strong in real life, so it's even better in a video game."

The sun parrot let out a scoff in response. "Capoeira isn't that great; from what I've heard, it's just the user that flips and dances all around, doing random moves."

"Which is why it's unpredictable and dangerous," Kivuli replied back with rolling her amethyst eyes. "How about we go back to the Dojo and rest for a bit? Unless you want me to beat you one more time at this game?"

Yukan gave a scoff as a response to her smug look. "Let's go; I feel like having a cup of tea. But don't go thinking that I will not claim a revenge match in the future."

And so, the two avian friends left the arcade to return to their Dojo. Two have weeks passed since the end of the Legendary Tournament and things went back to normal in the Valley of Peace for the inhabitants and masters. During this time, the amount of mission demands and bounties for the Dojo rose higher than before. The reason was probably that the watchers of the tournament's final phase got so impressed by Yukan and Kivuli's performances that they held the Frog Dojo in higher estime now.

As they arrived, Yukan couldn't help but smile at the familiarity of the place that was now his home. The square-shaped building still looked great with its octagon windows and radiant garden around it. It was hard to believe that two months already passed since he left his country and arrived here. To him, it felt like all of this happened yesterday. So much has happened since. But the most important thing is that he found somewhere he felt he belonged to.

When they entered, the duo found the building mostly empty. The members were probably busy with all the work demands they received on the mission board. It didn't take them long before noticing their good old master sitting in the living room with a tea service on the table. "Hey, Master Shujinko. Good morning," Kivuli warmly greeted him.

To their surprise, the little frog did not respond and instead looked at a piece of paper in his hands. This caught Yukan's attention. "Master? Is something wrong?"

Shujinko turned toward them after a few seconds, giving them a surprisingly serious look. "We need to leave at this very instant, my young students."

"Why's that, Master?" Kivuli asked with raising a confused eyebrow.

As a response, the amphibian showed the message paper he held in his hands. "I received this moments ago. You remember the group of coyotes that you confronted with Shining Eagle at the Tuvani Village and at the tea shop, Yukan? Well, they attacked another village today and they want me to come up or they will kill the villagers."

"What?!" Yukan exclaimed, his emerald green eyes widening in shock. They then narrowed into a glare. "Darn those coyotes! They never stop doing bullshit!"

"We must go now. We never know when they'll get impatient and start killing the villagers!" Kivuli pointed out.

"Indeed. I must just get something first." Master Shujinko stood up and left the living room to go to his quarters. He returned a few moments later with a strange object in his hands. A small dagger with a curved wooden handle and a sharp blade made of stone with purple streaks marking it. The two avians couldn't help but give it a curious look as they never saw any wood or stone of this type in the region. And since when did Master Shujinko owned a dagger?

"What's this thing, Master?" Yukan asked.

"There's no time to explain; I will tell you another time. Now let's go!"

* * *

Yukan, Kivuli and Shujinko managed to reach the village at the base of the mountain after only two hours. The first thing the trio took notice of being the worrying silence of the place and the fact that all the houses were burnt and destroyed. There wasn't a single living soul in sight, as if they had entered a ghost town.

"What the heck happened here? Are we too late?" Yukan asked, looking all around in hopes of seeing at least one villager.

"That can't be," Kivuli mumbled as they arrived in the middle of the village. "They can't have done this so soon! I swear if they have..."

Master Shujinko suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, raising a hand to make his two students do the same. He turned his head to one side and the other a few times, narrowing his yellow eyes. "We're being surrounded!"

The little frog took his Crab Style fighting stance while Yukan got into his Reverse Praying Mantis and Kivuli summoned Purple Rainmaker before taking her own fighting stance. As if on cue, at least twenty figures jumped down from the rooftops around them and formed a circle around the trio. A group of coyotes. They all brandished sharp swords, axes, maces, javelins, and arrows.

"Hello, guys. Been a while," Yukan greeted them with a smirk.

"I don't remember saying in my letter that you could come with any friends, Shujinko."

The old frog sighed sadly and turned his head. A new figure came out from the circle of coyotes. A female dragon with red scales and an exposed golden underbelly. "Hello, Fyra. It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"Shut up, old man!" the dragoness angrily replied.

Kivuli blinked her amethyst eyes, looking alternatively between her master and the dragoness. "... Is that your girlfriend, Master?"

"SHUT UP! YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE THAT I'M YOUNGER THAN HE IS!" Fyra exclaimed in an undignified tone.

"But who are you? And why did you do this to those villagers?" Yukan asked.

"So this old frog didn't tell you anything?" Fyra asked with crossing her arms. "I'm not surprised. He's too much of a coward to tell the truth. I'm sorry if taking this village caused you any trouble, but that was the only way to lure him into coming here. Have you brought what I asked, Shujinko?" The amphibian turned his body sideways to show the little dagger tied to his waist. "Excellent," Fyra said with a grin. "Now give it to me, and nobody will have to get hurt."

"Fyra, please," Shujinko said with a slightly begging look. "I already told you that you don't have to do this. Whatever the Scorpion King told you, it's nothing but lies. If you free him from his prison, he's gonna hurt a lot of people."

"Keep your stories for yourself, old man!" Fyra said. "If you refuse to comply, I'm gonna take it by force."

"Not a chance," Yukan declared with taking place beside his master. "If you want to take anything from my master, you'll have to go through me!"

Fyra grinned a little bit. "Even if I hoped that Shujinko would come alone, I still brought some back-up in case." The dragoness moved out of the way as a figure walked beside her.

A male Jamaican monkey with light brown fur and a light grey face. His hair was tied into many back-length braids and his whole body was covered by a black jumpsuit. Just the look in his brown eyes indicated that he wasn't here to mess around.

"So... what's the plan, Master?" Yukan mumbled toward Shujinko as the situation wasn't exactly in their favor.

"I will take care of Fyra," he replied. "Yukan, you take care of this monkey, and Kivuli, you neutralize these coyotes and find where they are keeping the villagers. You need to act quickly before they hurt them."

The martial eagle nodded, turning around and charging into the group of coyotes surrounding them. Yukan, meanwhile, cracked his wings and approached the monkey. "Alright, we can do this two ways: the easy way or the hard-" He never got to finish his sentence as the monkey leaped on his two hands and delivered a spinning kick to the sun parrot's beak, sending him crashing into the destroyed home's wall. "... way?"

Spitting some blood, the sun parrot charged at the primate, clutching his wing like a fist and setting it on fire. "ROARING FIST!" The primate performed a side dodge and then jumped to catch Yukan with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors that made him flip and land hard on his back. After recovering, he realized a detail. "Hey, that's a move Kivuli used against me at the arcade earlier."

"Possible. The martial art I'm using is called Capoeira," the monkey said while balancing himself from one side to the other with his legs.

"C-Capeoira?!" Yukan exclaimed, his emerald green eyes widening in surprise. "... Great, I'm in for a world of hurt now."

#

Not too far from there, Shujinko and Fyra clashed, attacking each other with matching fury. They successfully blocked and dodged each other's attacks. Of course, Shujinko still had the advantage thanks to his small size and his Crab Style of Kung Fu. He already landed a few strikes to the dragoness' legs, leaving small bruises there.

Both warriors eventually charged at their respective opponent and the force of their attacks colliding pushed them away from each other, causing them to skid across the ground towards the opposite ends of the village. Fyra readjusted her position, eyes narrowed toward her opponent. She rushed forward, swinging her sharp tail tip in a down stroke motion toward Shujinko's head.

The old frog pulled the dagger from his belt and blocked the tail tip with it. Not giving up, Fyra pressed on her attack, producing a CLING! noise. Eventually, Shujinko had enough and went for a leg sweep which knocked Fyra off-balance. She immediately flapped her wings to put some distance between herself and her opponent.

"Darn it...!" the dragoness groaned while panting.

"I don't want to hurt you, Fyra. Please, just leave this village and no one will have trouble," Shujinko asked once again with lowering his dagger.

"Forget about this. I won't give up until you set my father free!" She then grinned. "Besides, when we last fought, I never had the chance to show you the extend of my real strength." She took a deep breath, filling her lungs. "FEAR SCREAM!" Opening her mouth, she shot a dark red and black blast of energy toward her opponent.

Shujinko managed to avoid it with a back bend. "The power of Dark Aether. I should have known. The Scorpion King truly is crazy!"

"And that's not all. POISON BLAST!" Taking another deep breath, Fyra shot yet another blast, that one being light green. Shujinko turned his head to see an undamaged barrel of water nearby. Raising one hand, he focused and made the water come out and fly before him to block the poison blast. If she was going to use her elemental powers, then so would he.

#

"Wow! So Master Shujinko possesses water powers?" Yukan mumbled to himself as he noticed the scene unfolding not too far from him.

"Don't look away from your opponent!" The sun parrot turned just in time to see a flying foot coming and hit him in the chest, knocking him away.

Swearing under his breath, Yukan set both of his fists on fire and got on the offensive again. Soon, they engaged in close combat, trading punches, kicks, and knee strikes. Since the monkey had a larger arsenal of attack, along with the fact that he could seemingly hit an endless combo, Yukan had to get on the defensive.

Eventually, he got on the offensive and swung his burning fist at the primate who dodged it and went for a spin kick that Yukan blocked. The encounter lasted very long with both fighters either blocking or dodging the other's offensives until they jumped away from each other, but immediately charged forward once more and went for a punch. Simultaneously, their attack reached the other's face, knocking them back at the same time. They got back up quickly and panted a bit while rubbing their cheek.

"You're pretty resilient, I'll give you that," the Jamaican monkey said with a grin.

"Thanks. You're very strong too. I will never underestimate a Capoeira fighter ever again," Yukan replied with a chuckle.

They charged and engaged another close combat with their attacks either missing or touching their target. The monkey actually managed to land a kick in the parrot's face before jumping back. However, Yukan followed and delivered a strong smash that caused the simian to be knocked back, but he performed moonsaults to regain his balance.

Yukan suddenly charged his lungs with fire energy. "PHOENIX BREATH!" The simian avoided the jet of fire with a cartwheel and immediately ran forward to catch the sun parrot with a monkey flip, sending him crashing into a wooden barrel which was completely broken because of the impact.

As the avian laid on his back in pain, the simian approached him and sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, I don't wanna do this, but I don't have a choice. Please forgive me." Using his strong legs, he jumped really high in the air, aiming for a double foot stomp to Yukan's torso.

"ENERGY SLASH!" The simian turned his head to see a purple slash of energy flying at him, making contact and sending him crashing into a nearby home. He fell face-first on the floor, knocked out.

Yukan groaned and looked up to see Kivuli landing next to him with her sword in wing. "K-Kivuli?"

"Looks I got here at just the right time," she remarked with a smile as she offered her wing to help her friend back up.

"Are the villagers safe, Kivuli?" Master Shujinko asked from nearby after countering another attack from the crazy dragoness.

The martial eagle replied by pointing in a direction with her wing where all the coyotes were lying down on the ground, severely injured - not enough to threaten their lives, but enough to make sure they wouldn't threaten the villagers anymore. "The villagers are free and I sent a call to the Imperial Army; they should be here in no time."

Upon hearing this, Fyra's golden eyes widened in horror. She groaned; she came SO close to reaching her goal! Swallowing her pride, she opened her wings and flew off to her defeated coyotes. "Coyotes! We must retreat! Follow me!"

As the coyotes got back up, clutching their wounds in pain and running away, Yukan saw the dragoness giving a hesitant look in the unconscious Capoeira fighter's direction before turning her head and flying away. "Well that solves it," Kivuli remarked as she pulled her Purple Rainmaker Sword away.

"You think the Imperial Army will manage to catch up with them?" Yukan asked.

"The most important thing is that the villagers are safe, Yukan," Master Shujinko said. He then turned his attention toward the defeated primate. "At least we got one of them. The Imperial soldiers will put him in jail when they'll arrive."

As he said this, Yukan couldn't but give a curious look at his opponent. Sure, he was on these cowards' side and he didn't hold back in their fight... but why did he apologize when he was about to deliver the finishing blow? And why did he say that he didn't want to do this?

"I'm gonna go ask him a few questions in jail..."

**Author's note: Wow, over 3,000 words? I think that might be the longest chapter I ever wrote for this story! You guys thought I forgot about Fyra? Nope. In fact, I have big plans for her in the future.**

**I also have a big news to tell you; because of the Coronavirus, my school will be closed for the next two weeks. This leaves me with a lot of free time, meaning I will be able to progress a lot with my stories. Except that, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	36. The coyote lair

Yukan panted heavily as he placed his two wings on his knees. He finally made it to the top of the local prison outside the Valley of Peace's city after climbing a massive long set of stairs. He rose his emerald green eyes up to look at the two heavily-armored soldiers who guarded the cell room Yukan came for. "Did you... really have... to put him... so high?" the avian complained while panting.

"That's the procedure, Master Sunbird; we cannot risk leaving him close to the exit if he was to escape," one of the guards replied.

"Besides, you're an avian, right? Why didn't you just fly up here?" the other guard asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"... Good point. Did the assassin cause you any trouble?"

"He hasn't said a word since we locked him up in here. You're gonna need to find the right words to say if you want to get anything out of him."

Yukan gave a little confident smile. "Don't worry for me, guards. I have a feeling that this guy will have no problem talking to me."

"Very well, then. You may go inside. Be careful," one of the guards demanded as he and his companion unlocked the cell door and moved aside to let the Kung Fu master get inside.

"I just hope it won't be too hard," the avian thought to himself as he opened the door and stepped inside.

The sun parrot immediately looked at the Jamaican monkey and saw that his eyes were half-closed. He took two steps into the cell room and examined the prisoner. He looked very tired and still wore the black jumpsuit from when they fought at the village. Curiosity filled his mind as he never met a Jamaican monkey like this guy before in China. This made him wonder why would he even come into this country, let alone to team up with a criminal gang.

"You missed me? How nice of you to come pay me a little visit," the simian scoffed, not turning his brown eyes to look at his visitor. "What do you want?"

"I came here to question you about the battle we had in this village," Yukan replied in the most formal way possible, not moving from his position.

The assassin turned his head just enough to give an uninterested look to the Kung Fu master. "Yeah, what of it? You wanna know why you won when I was about to kick your butt? It's only because your friend attacked me when I wasn't looking."

"No, it's not about that. It's just that I think... you didn't actually want to help these coyotes riding the village and hurting the villagers."

The primate was a bit taken aback, not having expected the sun parrot to say this. He slightly tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"At the end of our duel, just before you went for the finishing blow, I heard you saying that you were sorry and that you didn't want to do this." The orange bird crossed his wings, getting closer to the simian. "Why? Why did you say that?" The simian lowered his head and pondered for a moment. Yukan eventually sighed. "Look, I'm not gonna call you 'dude' during this whole conversation. How about you tell me your name?"

"... It's Akoni," the simian said after a moment.

"Nice to meet you, Akoni. My name is Yukan Tori," the sun parrot introduced himself in return with a sincere smile.

"Well, why should I tell you anything, Yukan Tori?"

"Because, in case you didn't notice, I'm the only one who can help you around here."

Akoni thought about his situation for a moment. Looking into this bird's emerald eyes, he could tell he was being sincere. Could he trust him with the truth? Was this the chance he had been waiting for so long? It became crystal clear that his best shot was to tell the truth and hope for the better.

"I've been hired by the Coyote Clan. Ever since I was 19 - and I'm 23 now - I've been forced to do all the work they asked me to do. That dragon girl you saw, Fyra, she is commanding them because she has big plans, but I'm not sure what it is: she didn't tell me that much. My Capoeira fighting style has always been very useful in helping them accomplish their missions."

Yukan nodded and tilted his head to the side, just like Akoni did. "Okay, but there's one point I don't understand. Why are you doing all this? I might not be the smartest guy in the world, but if you don't wanna help these guys, why are you not just running away or fighting back?"

Akoni sighed deeply and gave his answer while looking at the ground. "I don't know anything about you... But you seem like a sincere person. So, the reason I can't fight back against these guys... is because they have my little sister."

Yukan's emerald green eyes widened in shock. "Y-Your little sister?"

"Yes. When they came to Jamaica, they attacked our village and captured Amancia. I did everything I could to protect my family and fight them back... but there were just too many. Impressed by my strength, they said I could be useful to them. Their leader promised they wouldn't do anything to Amancia if I obeyed them. Ever since... I have been all their dirty work..."

Yukan just stared at the simian with a look of pity. Being forced to do evil things because criminals captured your daughter... This thought alone was enough to make the blood boil inside the bird's veins and his look turned into one of determination. He reached his wing for the primate to reach and this made him look up in confusion.

"Get up. We're going right now," he ordered in a firm, decided tone.

Akoni gave a very perplexed gaze to the Kung Fu master. "W-What do you mean?"

"I'm going with you and we're gonna rescue your sister."

Akoni blinked his eyes in confusion. "B-But how? I can't get out of here because I'm a prisoner. And besides, why would you help? Aren't Kung Fu masters supposed to be against criminals?"

"I can pay for your release: I have plenty of money to spare. And besides, I don't care what Kung Fu masters are supposed to be: when I see someone who needs help, I do something. It's as simple as that. You know where they keep your sister?"

"Well... Yes. It's a lair located in a countryside outside the valley. They allowed me to see my sister with every successful mission, but not for long. I can lead you there."

"Then let's go!"

* * *

Night fell by the time Yukan and Akoni reached their destination. Good thing because the dark would help keeping them covered. Though it would be easier for the simian who was dressed in black while the avian's orange feathers and blue clothes might cause a problem. They were sitting on top of a rock from where they could see the lair of the Coyote Clan. It looked pretty well-guarded with coyotes walking around armed with strong weapons.

"This place looks quite like the fortress," Yukan mumbled toward Akoni. "Are you sure we can make it through?"

"Don't worry; I've been here countless times in the last four years," the simian replied. "I know this place by heart. Just follow me and everything will go perfectly fine."

And so began the stealth mission for the Kung Fu master and assassin. The first step was to get inside the lair and, to do that, they needed to neutralize two guards standing on top of twin watch towers. Once that was done, they sneaked inside the lair and tried sticking to the shadows while avoiding the numerous patrols. At one point, they came across an open area with many guards and no way to sneak around.

Yukan used his Firefly Bombs technique to set a spot on fire. As all the coyotes rushed to pull the fire out, the two friends made their move, reaching even further into the lair. Before long, they reached the dungeon with a few cell rooms which all seemed empty.

"Where is she? Where is she?" Akoni nervously mumbled. They made a full round of the sector and saw nothing. "Amancia! Where are you?!" Seeing tears forming in the corners of his eyes, Yukan pulled a wing on his shoulder. "What have they done to her? What?"

"A-Akoni?"

The simian slowly rose upright and turned his head to see a familiar figure coming out of the shadows of a cell room. A Jamaican monkey just like him, but with lighter (if somewhat dirty) fur and torn clothes. "Y-You're okay... You're okay!" the male primate exclaimed in pure joy as he rushed to give a tight embrace to his little sister through the cell bars.

"I knew you would come back...," the little female monkey mumbled, returning the embrace with some tears of her own. Yukan smiled at seeing such a touching moment. After many seconds, the two siblings broke the embrace and Amancia gave her brother a serious look. "But what are you doing here? You know that if they find you here, we'll both get killed."

"It's not a problem anymore, little sister." Akoni pointed at Yukan behind him with a thumb. "This guy is a Kung Fu master and he's helping me with our situation. We just need to get out of here and tell everything we know to the authorities."

"I'm afraid this won't happen."

The three friends froze and turned around to see a group of coyotes approaching them, all armed with dangerous weapons. The one who talked was taller and carried a sledgehammer, probably the leader. "I should've known you would end up turning on us and trying to get away with your puny little sister."

Akoni's face turned into a hateful glare as he stepped away from his sister and joined Yukan who already took his fighting stance. "I'm done working for you scumbags! You're gonna regret ever laying your dirty paws on my sister!"

The Coyote Leader chuckled before pointing his sledgehammer at the simian. "Alright, if you really want to die, come at me," he dared. A cool breeze blew past the two fighters, causing a few leaves to gracefully float away. The canine bandit then sprinted toward the monkey while tightening the grip on his weapon.

The simian didn't move and just stood there with his feet firmly planted into the ground, his eyes glaring at the bandit who was closing in on him fast. Once he was within range, the Coyote Leader swung his sledgehammer sideways with the tip of it aimed at the monkey's head. A sudden cry of pain followed by a sound of breaking bones echoed through the lair.

Blood spilled on the ground, the Coyote Leader lying on the ground and holding his head in pain. The other bandits stared with wide eyes and open mouths in both surprise and shock. "I-I can't believe it!" said one of the bandits in disbelief.

"He really hit the boss!" another one said.

The simian fixed his gaze on the remaining bandits. All but one of them was frightened. The only one who wasn't frightened glared at the primate with murderous rage in his eyes. He was also breathing in and out quickly through his gritted teeth and his chest heaved with each breath.

This bandit rose a rusty axe in his paws. "You!" he hissed. "You think you can turn against us and get away with it? Mistake!" he exclaimed.

However, Akoni showed no remorse. "Shut up! I never wanted anything to do with your stupid group! You guys captured my sister and forced me to work with you for four freakin' years! But now, it's time for revenge!"

The coyote screamed in anger with a compressed jaw as he charged at the monkey. "Don't be a fool!" said one of the bandits and reached his arm for his companion. But his words fell on deaf ears and the coyote was closing on the simian with rage in his eyes.

Once he was in range, he swung his axe horizontally at the primate who ducked, causing the blade the glide past his head. Akoni then stood up and twisted his body around before he planted a powerful kick to the bandit's chest. This made him groan in pain as the sheer strength of the kick knocked him on his back. He dropped his axe and held his chest in pain.

The wolf spun around, taking his Capoeira stance once again. The bandit struggled through the pain as he picked his axe back and stood up. He barked at the monkey who didn't even flinch before sprinting toward him again with his weapon. Once he was within range, he raised the axe high above his head and brought it down on Akoni. Blood flew into the air as he replied with a moon kick to his jaw that knocked some teeth out, and sent him in the air before crashing back down.

"Alright, time to finish this off!" Yukan declared with filling his lungs with energy. "PHOENIX BREATH!" The jet of fire he spat burned the remaining coyotes, setting them on fire, and knocking them away. "A good job done," the sun parrot said with a smile before going to Amancia and using his wings to melt the cell bars, allowing her to come out.

She immediately ran into the embracing arms of her big brother. "Shh, shh, it's over, Amancia. These guys will not hurt us anymore." After comforting his little sister, Akoni looked up at Yukan. "Yukan, I will always be grateful to you for what you did."

"Don't mention it. You guys are free and that's what matters now," the sun parrot replied with a smile.

"But what are we gonna do now, Akoni?" Amancia asked with a worried look. "You're considered a criminal and we don't have money anymore."

"I think I have a solution for that," Yukan said, making the siblings turn toward him. "Why don't you join the Frog Dojo? It's a very welcoming place for both of you and if you receive the blessing of Master Shujinko, your name will be cleared and you will be paid too."

"That sound like a wonderful idea!" Amancia beamed before looking at her brother who seemed hesitant.

"Becoming a Kung Fu warrior?" Akoni asked. "I don't know... You really think your friends would accept me after what I did?"

"Of course, Akoni," Yukan assured with putting a wing on his new friend's shoulder. "No one's perfect. I will explain them everything that what you did was against your own will."

The primate looked at the avian then at his sister before giving his decision. "It would be an honor to become part of your Dojo, Yukan Tori." He shook hands with the sun parrot as to officialize their friendship.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the middle of somewhere in China, a certain trio sat in an open clearing with a peregrine falcon resting against a tree while reading paper news, a deer cleaning his sword with a towel, and a little owl flying above their heads, scouting the zone.

"Oh my gosh!" the peregrine falcon exclaimed. "Have you seen that, Genghis? The Legendary Tournament has finally come to an end, and it's this tiger assassin from the northwest that won it."

"Yeah, so what of it?" the deer nonchalantly asked, not looking away from his Gouijan Sword.

"Well, you're not gonna believe who else participated," Xerxes said before pointing to the part of the newspaper that showed the other participants. "You see that little orange fella there? I met him on the day I got you out of jail, just before coming to the prison!"

Genghis turned his head and looked at it. "It's the Sunbird guy."

"So he's famous now? Good."

"Xerxes!" the archer owl called as he landed down. "There's a battalion of Imperial soldiers coming here from the south!"

A smile formed on the peregrine falcon's beak. "Good, good. I think this is a good time to see what this legendary fruit is really capable of," he mumbled with taking a golden fruit out of his robes and into his wing.

**Author's note: And the Frog Dojo has won a new member: Akoni! For those of you who didn't realize it, this monkey guy is based on one of my most favorite fighting game characters of all time: Eddy Gordo. I wanted to add a Capoeira fighter in this story from the very beginning.**

**Will Akoni and his sister fit in well with the Frog Dojo? What will Fyra and the Coyote gang do next? And what is Xerxes doing with this golden fruit? Stay stunned to find out! As always, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	37. The Best Swordsman

The Asian golden cat and the martial eagle looked at each other as they readied themselves for battle on top of the Frog Dojo's roof. Usually, they would spar in the underground training room, but they wished to have more room to fight and, besides, some other students were already using it. Watching them both while sitting on the very edge of the rooftop with a cup of tea, was Master Shujinko whose hand was raised. "Fight!" he said with lowering it at the same time.

As soon as the signal was given, Mei Ling reeled back on her legs before jumping forward at lightning speed toward Kivuli. This last one responded by swinging her purple-handled sword at her, hitting her bo staff as she raised it to defend herself, knocking her to the side where she landed perfectly on the ground. Sliding several feet back, the feline growled as she readjusted her hold on her weapon and charged again.

"You're doing good, girls! Keep it on!" Shujinko praised from the sidelines as he took a sip from his peppermint tea.

Back to the sparring match, Mei Ling rose her bo staff above her head to block Kivuli's Purple Rainmaker sword as it came down on her. The avian started pulling the blade of her weapon in every direction, trying to knock the staff off Mei Ling's paws. To her surprise, the golden cat actually dropped her staff on purpose before delivering a devastating spin kick across her beak, stunning her.

With another spin kick to the beak as she gracefully landed on the ground, the martial eagle found herself knocked on her back. Refusing to give up, she ignored the pain rushing through her beak and continued swinging her trusty sword at the golden cat who blocked with the bo staff she recovered a few seconds earlier. However, she soon twisted her lips into a smirk as she shot her palm forward, dodging Kivuli's defense, and landed a powerful blow to her chest, which sent sliding all the way to the other side of the rooftop. She ended on her back, defeated.

"Mei Ling is the winner!" Shujinko announced. "Good work, Mei Ling, as always. As for you, Kivuli, you did very well too. You just need more training and you will become better in no time, I can tell you that."

In a mark of good sportsmanship, Mei Ling walked over to Kivuli and offered her a paw to get back up. The avian accepted it, reaching her wing to get back up and pulled her sword away with her seal. "I don't understand how you can move so fast, Mei Ling."

"Hey, it's not for nothing that I was top of my class in one of the hardest and most demanding academies in China," the golden cat replied with a wink.

Kivuli nodded. "Everyone says that you're also the best master of the Frog Dojo - after Shujinko, of course. If you had participated in the Legendary Tournament with us, we would have probably won."

"Maybe, we'll never know," Mei Ling replied with a shrug, resting her bo staff on her shoulder. "So? What do you wanna do now? Willing to go for another sparring match?"

"Actually, I had other plans for today," the martial eagle replied. "I've been thinking a lot since the end of the tournament and decided I would go buy myself new swords."

"Really?"

"Yes. I've been using only Purple Rainmaker so far, but maybe if I add different swords, shields, and bows to my arsenal, I would get more efficient on the battlefield," the martial eagle explained.

Mei Ling rubbed her chin with her thumb and smiled. "Yes, that makes sense. There a few good weapon shops in town; let's go there and find you something to buy."

#

The two Frog Dojo masters departed to the downtown of the Valley of Peace. The place was busy with the civils going on with their everyday lives, walking around and entering into shops to buy stuff, or just enjoying a good walk on this beautiful day. "Which shop are we going to?" Mei Ling asked her friend.

"It's called 'The Silver Blade'," Kivuli replied. "It is known for being the best sword shop in this city. If I want to get first quality blades, this is the place to go."

"Cool, let's get to it," Mei Ling said as they continued walking. On their way, they came across a few citizens who greeted them and even asked for a pawshake due to them being famous masters. While Kivuli kept her neutral expression, Mei Ling acted sweet and happy. Soon, the shop in question came into view as a sign reading: "The Silver Blade" in... well, silver, stood above the shop's entrance.

However, before they could enter, the two girls heard panicking screams and turned to see a group of what looked like street thugs running in their direction. "HELP US! HELP US!" they begged with grabbing the masters' vests.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! What's going on?" Kivuli asked, backing off a bit.

"W-We met this guy and he... and he...!" one of them rambled, barely able to talk.

"This guy? What guy?" Mei Ling asked with a curious eyebrow.

"M-Me and the guys were relaxing by the entrance of the city when that crazy bunny guy carrying a sword arrived. We approached and asked him for money and he... HE JUST KICKED OUR ASSES LIKE IT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE!" one of the young people exclaimed in panic.

"Crazy bunny?" Kivuli asked with a somewhat interested expression.

"BOSS! HE'S BACK!" one of the thugs suddenly exclaimed.

As the young people rushed to go hide around, the two girls turned in the direction they looked at. Indeed, a figure came walking their way, gathering the attention of everyone who happened to see him. Snow-white fur and shoulder-length ears tied into a ponytail with a band, revealing a round, intimidating face. Sinister dark blue eyes, set buried within their sockets, watched seriously ahead, not paying attention to the figures around them. Despite being a bunny, he was pretty tall - reaching the same height as Mei Ling. His dress consisted of dark blue robes with a red drawing of a bunny about to be beheaded on the back.

However, the part of that man that intrigued Kivuli the most was the sword tied to his right hip by his blue belt. Its handle was wrapped in a pitch-black bandage with the collar being made of gold and the scabbard being a flamboyant red. He had another sword tied to his left, this one having a wooden handle and scabbard.

"A bunny... These swords... No, it cannot be...," Kivuli mumbled, her amethyst eyes widening in shock.

"What's wrong, Kivuli? You know this guy?" Mei Ling asked her friend.

"... Mei Ling, this bunny right here is Bosan Miyamoto, also known as "The Sword of Heaven". He is one of the Imperial Army's Commandants... and the best swordsman in the whole world."

Mei Ling's golden eyes widened upon hearing that last part. "T-The best swordsman... in the whole world?"

Bosan Miyamoto came to a stop before the spot where the little thugs attempted to hide. He lowered his intimidating gaze on them. "You..."

"Y-Yes?"

"I have something to ask you... Do you where I can find the finest bread and wine in this town?"

Everybody around was taken aback by this question. Bosan Miyamoto, the Sword of Heaven and best swordsman in the world, comes out of nowhere and asks a bunch of teenagers where he can find the best wine and bread in the city? Everyone around thought that same thing: "That was random..."

"Hey, you there!" Kivuli suddenly said as she stepped toward the bunny. "You're Bosan Miyamoto, right?"

The bunny in question turned around, giving an indifferent look to the martial eagle. "Yes, why?"

"Is it true that you're the best swordsman in the world? The man who won 62 duels and lost not a single one in his whole life?"

"What if I am?"

Kivuli's black beak twisted into a grin. "I've been looking to meet you for a very, very, VERY long time." She reached her wing upward. "Come to me, Purple Rainmaker!" Her trusty sword came out from the purple seal to be grabbed in her wing by the handle and she pointed its blade at the swordsman. "I challenge you to a duel, Miyamoto!"

All the people around gasped in surprise upon hearing this. Did this Kung Fu master really challenge the greatest swordsman in the world to a duel? The bunny simply stared at her with an indifferent expression. "... Why not. I have to find a way to kill time anyways."

Kivuli smiled. "Thank you."

#

The two swordsmen left to go duel outside the city as to avoid causing any damage to the buildings or hurting the citizens. They stood in the middle of an open area with nothing but grass. Mei Ling, the young teenagers, as well as some other citizens gathered nearby to watch what should be an interesting encounter.

"What weapon are you gonna use?" Kivuli asked.

The bunny turned his head toward one of the teenagers. "Hey, you, there. Give me your knife!" The young boy was surprised by such a demand, but complied, pulling a knife out of his pocket and tossing it for the bunny to catch it in his paw.

Kivuli blinked her amethyst eyes at this. "... What are you doing? I said I wanted a sword duel; not a sandwich contest. Take one of your swords out!"

"That won't be necessary," Miyamoto nonchalantly responded as he twirled the little knife between his fingers. "I won't need more than this to defeat you."

Kivuli narrowed her eyes in anger and flapped her wings to dart forward. "DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME! TIGER SLASH!" Charging her sword with a lot of energy, the martial eagle swung her glowing blade with all of her strength.

CLANG!

The watchers could not believe their eyes upon seeing the scene unfolding before them. Kivuli unleashed a very powerful attack that could easily kill someone... So how was Miyamoto able to block the blade with the simple tip of his knife?

"W-What?!" Kivuli mumbled in nothing short of shock and awe. "My attack was at full strength! How could he block it with a mere knife?"

"You truly are an amateur," the bunny said with a sigh. "It's not the size of the blade that matters; it's the skills of the one using it. Any good swordsman knows that."

Scoffing, Kivuli pulled back and started swinging her sword over and over again, only for it to be blocked by Miyamoto who used the tip of his knife while having his eyes half-closed. He was bored. "Don't you go thinking that I know nothing about swordsmanship!"

CLING! CLING! CLING! Mei Ling and the others could only watch as Kivuli attempted in vain to land a strike ton Miyamoto. Mei Ling's golden eyes were wide open. "The best swordsman in the world... is really that strong?"

"Alright, that's enough," the bunny declared and, with a swift swing of his little knife, knocked the sword out of Kivuli's wings before going for a stab. However, he stopped the the tip of the blade right in front of her chest. "... You lost. Recognize your defeat and surrender now."

"... No."

This answer surprised Miyamato quite a bit. Normally, after seeing how superior he was to them in terms of sword skills, his opponents would surrender and run away in fear, quitting on their dreams to beat him. 'No' is an answer he never received. Why did this eagle refuse?

"... I can't give up now..."

Miyamoto turned his head to give her a confusing look. "You wanna continue fighting? Even if you could get killed?"

"It's because... I've done a promise to someone that I would reach my goal of becoming the best swordsman in the world. And I have the feeling that if I decide to step back right now...," Kivuli looked up with a wall of determination on her face, "... it would break that promise I made to this person... and to myself..."

Miyamoto looked at the determined eagle in surprise... before grinning. "It has been a long time since I've met a swordsman with such determination." He tossed the knife back in the teenagers' direction. "Guess what, I'm gonna let you go with no injuries for now. You see these swords?" he asked with tapping the swords tied to his hips. "They are called Wakizashi and Daisho. If you want a chance to defeat me, you're gonna have to form a stronger connection with your sword than I have with them. When you feel ready for a rematch, come and see me; I will be waiting for you."

Kivuli smiled at this. "Thank you, Miyamoto. I'm looking forward to this day. Until then, I'm gonna work harder than ever!"

#

And so, Miyamoto left to go eat some bread and vine at a very fancy restaurant while Kivuli went to the Silver Blade to get new weapons. Mei Ling waited outside as she did not want to bother her friend in her choice. After around one hour, the martial eagle walked out. "So? What did you buy?" Mei Ling went to ask her feathered friend.

"Look." Kivuli pulled out her first new sword. It was a big two-handed sword whose blade was glowing orange and emanating heat. "This is called a Great Fire Sword." She then pulled out her second weapon, a sickle whose blade was curling into an half-moon and had a red handle. "And that's a sickle. I now have one elemental weapon and a swift, sharp sickle into my inventory." She summoned her purple seal and pulled both weapons away into it.

"Cool! Let's go show them to the others!"

**Author's note: We met the strongest swordsman in my world. You must think I'm crazy to introduce such a powerful character so soon in the series. But hey, better be in advance than making last minute decisions, right?**

**'Bosan Miyamoto' is a reference to Miyamoto Musashi, the man who history remembers as the strongest samurai who ever lived. There are plenty of references about him in this chapter such as the names of his swords.**

**Will Kivuli manage to defeat him one day? How will she adapt with the use of her two new weapons? Stay stunned to find out. As always, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	38. The Crafting Master

"... And that's why I ask you all to welcome our new Dojo member, Akoni, and his little sister, Amancia!" Yukan finished with presenting the two primates with his wing, causing all the Dojo members to cheer loudly. The big brother smiled and waved at them while his little sister did the same, but a little bit more shy.

"We are more than happy to welcome you both in the Frog Dojo, my dear friends," Master Shujinko kindly said as he came before the two siblings. "You are welcome to stay as long as you want to."

"Thank you, Master," Akoni said with hitting a fist in the palm of his hand and bowing. "I also want to apologize for the trouble I've caused you and your students. Would you ever be able to forgive me?"

"Hey, there's no hard feelings: you just protected your little sister," Kivuli pointed out as she started drinking a sake cup. Then, with a smirk, she added: "Besides, it's not your fault if Yukan isn't good enough to defend himself."

"Hey, are you calling me weak?" the sun parrot asked, getting into his avian friend's face. "I remind you that the only reason you took him out is because I was distracting him. Otherwise, you wouldn't have lasted two minutes against him!"

"Oh yeah?" the martial eagle replied, pulling her sake cup down and getting in his face with a grin. "How about we fight to see who's the strongest, orange feather bag?"

As the two friends walked away to have a duel, Akoni blinked his eyes. "Are they always like this?"

"Yup, always," Mei Ling replied with a giggle. "If there's one thing that is strong in this Dojo, it's the fighting spirit. We're always ready to take on a fight. Speaking of which..." She placed a gloved paw on the simian's shoulder. "You said you were a Capoeira fighter, right?"

"Yes; I learned it back in my hometown of Jamaica."

"I've never seen it before. Would you like to make us a little demonstration by having a duel?" she suggested with a wink.

"Oh, oh, I can be your opponent!" Kodok offered as he suddenly ran to the primate. "It has been a long time since I last had a duel. You'll see: I'm a very capable fighter."

"... Sure, if you want."

The amphibian and primate walked out into the Dojo's garden where there was enough space for their duel. Mei Ling decided to serve as the referee, standing on the sidelines with her gloved paw raised. "Ready? Fight!"

Kodok immediately grabbed his slingshot and started charging and shooting bills at his opponent while stepping back to keep some distance between them. Unfortunately for him, Akoni revealed himself to be very agile, managing to dodge the bills and reached his opponent in no time. He knocked the slingshot out of his hands with a moonkick before sweeping him off his legs with a spin kick and then jumped on top of him, with his forearm pressed against his throat.

"We have a winner!" Mei Ling announced as Akoni got off Kodok. Of course, the primate helped the amphibian back up before Mei Ling came to praise him. "That was really good, Akoni; I can't remember the last time I saw someone moving so fluidly."

What the two masters didn't notice while complimenting Akoni was that Kodok looked down with a sad expression.

* * *

The next day, Kodok, Mei Ling and Akoni went to a small restaurant not too far from the Frog Dojo to relax a bit and get to know each other more. The trio was seated at an outdoor table, each with trays of food.

"... So these guys really forced you to work for them during these last four years?" Mei Ling asked with a horrified expression.

Akoni nodded while chewing on a dumpling. "Yup, doing things like stealing, fighting the Imperials, and even killing sometimes. They made me wear these black clothes to hide in the night. I'm glad that Yukan bought me these new ones; they fit more with my style." Indeed, before joining the Frog Dojo, Yukan brought Akoni to the cloth shop and changed his dress. He now wore a light green sleeveless vest that was open to reveal his toned torso with green wristbands and yellow Capoeira pants held by a rope tied around his waist.

"Yeah, it's true that this colorful dress looks better than your black jumpsuit," Mei ling agreed with a nod.

"Of course, very flashy costume," Kodok said, his face bitter and resting on the palm of his hand.

Mei Ling frowned a bit as she noticed her friend barely touched his food which looked delicious. "What's wrong, Kodok? You haven't finished half your food yet."

The frog sighed sadly, poking at his most favorite food in the world. "It's just... you guys can do all this awesome stuff with elemental powers, summoning swords, and hand-to-hand combat. I can't do any of this... I can't do anything."

"That's not true, Kodok," Mei Ling defend her friend. "You can do plenty of things. You're the best map reader of the Dojo."

"I might have known you for only a day, but Yukan told me that you're a great sharpshooter and that you know how to craft tools too," Akoni pointed out.

"Thanks, guys. I appreciate the effort, but the fact is that all of you guys are strong and special. I am not. I'm just a smart wannabe warrior, that's why I didn't go beyond the first phase in the Legendary Tournament," the young frog sighed, even more upset.

Mei Ling walked over to get beside her friend. "I'm sorry you're feeling so down, but I hope you know none of us are seeing you that way." She placed a thumb on her chin and thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "I know exactly what's gonna make you feel all better!"

Kodok turned his head to look at her in confusion. "You do?"

* * *

"SHOPPING!" Kodok beamed, excitedly clapping his hands as he, Mei Ling, and Akoni stood in front of a weapons shop. He ran forward and started examining the various weapons displayed on racks and shelves in the shop. "You're right, Mei Ling! Maybe all I need is a few new items to expand my arsenal!"

The frog grabbed a pair of nunchucks and started swinging them around. However, he ended up hitting himself on top of the skull and collapsed on his back. "Maybe you need... something else," Akoni pointed out with a wince as he helped his friend back up.

For the next minutes, Kodok tried many different weapons such as a Guan Dao, a metal club, a dagger, a spiked club, and even an axe. But he failed at using them correctly and only succeeded in hurting himself. As he rubbed his skull in pain, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

He turned around and saw a rack onto which was displayed a beautifully-crafted shield. He widened his eyes as he examined the details of the item and the way the material had been crafted. "Oooh, now THAT is the kind of equipment I'm looking for," he said as he walked over to the shield and examined it.

The shopkeeper watched him in amusement as he walked beside the young frog. "You have a good eye, my young friend. This shield has been crafted by Dagon, one of the best crafters of any tool in the Valley of Peace. He lives in his little sanctuary outside the city."

Mei Ling suddenly gasped and grabbed Kodok by the shoulders. "That's it, Kodok! That's what you needed all along!"

"... A shield?" Kodok and Akoni asked at the same time.

"No, a craft master. Yukan and I are so good at Kung Fu because we had good masters; Shining Eagle is a great aerial master because her father was Master Eagle, and Kivuli is a good swordsman because she had a swordsman teacher. You never had any crafter as a master to help you. You should ask this Dagon if you can study under him."

"That's a great idea!" Akoni said in agreement. "Let's go see him."

Kodok looked at the shield. "It would be nice to have a crafter as a master. Alright, let's go!"

* * *

Kodok easily found the sanctuary, which was located near a river outside the city. At the front gates, he knocked politely and waited for someone to open. It took thirty seconds before the gates were pulled open, revealing an old goat dressed in white robes. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"I've come to train with Mister Dagon," Kodok seriously said.

"Really? That's new," the goat sarcastically said. "You should know that he turns down almost everyone. What makes you think YOU will be different?"

"That's not for you to know," the frog replied in the most serious tone he could use. "I wanna talk to Dagon and no one else."

"... Very well, follow me." The old goat gestured for Kodok to follow him as they stepped inside and closed the gate behind them. They walked through the sanctuary's courtyard before getting inside the main structure.

The two animals soon entered a large room with a huge window that gave a beautiful view outside on the green fields. The one Kodok assumed to be Dagon sat behind a desk, writing or drawing something over a paper on his table. To his surprise, Dagon was a dragon of all things. An Eastern Dragon, to be more precise.

He had light green scales with a white underbelly, flowing white hair on the back of his head, and a long mustache reaching down to his chest. He wore green robes with a sleeve only for his right arm while his left one was missing, exposing his strong torso, and some bandages tied around his waist.

With a nod from the old goat, Kodok stepped forward and got down on his knees. "Mister Dagon, my name is Kodok, and I've come to be instructed in the ways of crafting," he politely said.

Dagon just kept drawing on his paper without looking up at the amphibian. "Let me guess, you're the best warrior from your village where you have crafted fine tools and you feel like are worthy of learning from me."

"Well, actually, I'm the only crafter from the swamp I lived in, Mister. And there's one thing I know for sure... I'm far from being the best fighter in my Dojo."

Dagon looked up with a surprised expression. "You're not very good at selling yourself."

"Yes, your goat friend told me when I arrived that you turn down almost everyone. But the thing is... I don't know if I'm worthy of being trained by the best...," Kodok finished, looking sad because of his own patheticness.

"Hmm, I see. Well then." Dagon stood up with a smile and walked over to the young frog. "Stand up. Let's find how worthy you are together." Kodok looked up at him in surprise. "I will train you."

A huge smile formed on the frog's lips.

* * *

Kodok's training with Dagon started right away. The young frog would spend all of his time at the crafter's sanctuary to progress. His friends at the Frog Dojo were a bit worried at first, but Mei Ling and Akoni told them everything about the situation. Kodok would always say about his training to his friends when he came back at the end of the day, covered in sweat and dirt.

Apparently, the first step Dagon made him go through was mastering the art of tracing a paintbrush on paper. "You cannot hope to have a good blueprint for a good weapon if you cannot trace a good line," he always said.

Next, Kodok needed to watch at a picture and try to re-draw it as best as he could without looking at it again. It was hard at first, but his memory soon got better and better at it until he could reproduce perfect drawings of the pictures. Apparently, memory was also an important factor in crafting, according to Dagon.

Unfortunately, the Frog Dojo masters didn't get to know more about it as Kodok decided to sleep at his master's sanctuary to spend more time with his training. He wanted to give 100% of his best and grow stronger just like all of his friends.

Then, came the day where Dagon said it was time for Kodok to go for the most important part of his training. "You will build your very own weapon," he said.

His own weapon. What could Kodok possibly make? A new slingshot? Nah, he already had one; it wouldn't be very original. A sword? He wasn't a very good swordsman. An axe? We already saw how terrible he was with it.

Then, an idea clicked into his mind. He rushed to his bedroom in the Frog Dojo and ran through old papers and drawings he made when he was younger. Pulling out a special piece of paper, he returned to the sanctuary where his master waited for him at the entrance gates.

"I finally decided what weapon I'm gonna build, Mister," he happily said and unrolled his scroll paper, showing the drawing on it. "Do you think it would be possible?"

Dagon took the paper and examined it in detail. Eventually, he looked up at Kodok and declared: "We will make a weapon unlike any other in the world."

* * *

Kodok and Dagon spent all day following the design of Kodok's work as a kid, starting by making a better blueprint with more details and some modifications. Afterwards, they headed to the forge and got to work. They spent all day giving their best efforts to build Kodok's weapon, drinking a lot of water and taking only short breaks to allow their muscles to rest.

But the end result was totally worth it.

By the next morning, Kodok was sitting in front of Dagon outside the main building. The old goat was standing behind Dagon, holding the weapon they had spent all day building, hiding it beneath a sheet.

"Kodok, when you came to my sanctuary, you were unsure, you didn't know if you were worthy of learning from me. But you had something special. You had a golden heart and the mind of a genius. As we trained together, it wasn't your skills that impressed me. No, it certainly wasn't your skills." Kodok looked away with a little frown at that remark. "You showed something beyond that. What you don't have in strength and talent, you compensated with intelligence and creativity - the traits of a great crafter."

He removed the sheet to reveal the weapon that had been built. It was a wooden glove with a round shield connected to the back by some sort of magnetic connectors. A frog and a dragon were drawn on the flat surface of the shield to represent those who created it.

Kodok could not contain his excitement, grabbing the weapon and immediately putting it on his hand. "My own weapon! I'm gonna call it the Magne Shield!"

Dagon chuckled a bit at his student's reaction. "What are you saying about testing your weapon right now against me?"

Kodok immediately accepted. The frog and dragon squared off in the fighting zone of the sanctuary's backyard. The old goat was watching from the sidelines. The student readied the Magne Shield while the teacher rose his sword, pointing it at his opponent. The goat's expression was nervous.

There was a long moment of silence before Dagon lunged forward, and began attacking, thrusting his sword forward a few times to be deflected by Kodok's shield. Eventually, the amphibian switched to the offensive, swinging his shield at the dragon who moved his head out of the way and stabbed at his student, forcing him to back flip to avoid it. Dagon swept his sword at his legs instead, but he jumped with his strong legs and span on himself before throwing his shield at Dagon.

He ducked the wooden spinning item, letting it bounce against a tree before the magnetic connection allowed it to come back on the gauntlet. However, just before that happened, Dagon hit the rear of his sword into Kodok's stomach, knocking him back several feet away, and making him slide on the floor. He flipped backward and grabbed a post of a small bridge to regain his balance. He quickly climbed onto the post and leapt to the other one just as Dagon thrust his sword at him.

The dragon spun around and sliced at his foot, but Kodok jumped away to the other rail of the bridge. He then blocked another stab attempt just before jumping off the rail and rolled to the side. Kodok ducked slice after slice before using his strong legs to jump back and put some distance between his more experienced opponent and himself.

"Excellent! Using your superior agility against an elder opponent... smart," the dragon commented with a smile.

He charged at Kodok again, striking at him and pushing him up a large stone stairway. The amphibian managed to block all the attacks, but the force pushed him back against the wall of the stairway. He deflected a few thrusts with his shield before ducking as the sword sliced through the part of the wall above his shoulder. The frog cartwheeled to the side, span back around, hopped a foot off the ground, and pushed off the wall with his legs, propelling himself forward with his shield raised. He slammed into Dagon, knocking him to the ground, and climbed the top of the staircase.

"Good use of terrain. Fighting from the high ground," Dagon pointed out.

Kodok swung his shield at Dagon who parried and swung back at him. The frog jumped and pinned the sword under his shield. The dragon tried to break his sword free, but couldn't. He leaned forward and pushed his sword upward, throwing Kodok off and making him stumble back into a tall stalk of bamboo.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to change tactics," Kodok mumbled as he saw Dagon raising his sword and charging at him again.

Kodok ducked as he sliced the bamboo just above his head and ran off into the bamboo thicket, pushing many stalks of bamboo out of his way with his Magne Shield. As Dagon chased after him, the amphibian grabbed a stalk, pulling it back, and letting it go to whip at his teacher, hitting him across the face and knocking him back.

"Yes, use your surroundings! Let them fight for you!" he praised.

The fight continued for a long time, but in the end, kodok was knocked on his back with Dagon pointing his sword at his chest. The tired frog was defeated. "Excellent work, Kodok," he said with pulling his sword away and offering his hand to help his student back up. "I taught you everything I know about crafting, You must now continue your training on your own. If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater crafter than I am."

"Thank you, Master," the frog gratefully said with bowing down. He then looked at his Magne Shield. "I can't wait to show this to my friends..."

**Author's note: I've been wanting to write a chapter focused on Kodok and how his defeat at the Legendary Tournament affected him. We got to see him develop his strongest points, intelligence and creativity, and even build himself a new weapon: the Magne Shield.**

**A good portion of this episode was inspired by Avatar's episode "Sokka's Master", one of my most favorite ones.**

**Also, with over 3,300 words, this chapter is my record-breaking longest one! Cheers! As always, constructive reviews are welcome and may the gods watch over you all.**


	39. Fire and combustion

**Author's note: Before we begin, I'd like to point out that this is a chapter I've been very excited to write since a long time. I was supposed to write a chapter about Shining Eagle training with Master Shujinko before this one, but no matter how hard I tried to focus on it yesterday, I couldn't find a way to make it work. So instead, I decided to move on directly to this one. It's gonna be divided in two chapters due to its length. Enjoy!**

A beautiful day in the Valley of Peace. With summer having finally arrived, the civilians could go out and enjoy the natural warmth and clear blue skies to do picnics, go on walks in the green hills, and watching movies outside. Of course, there were those who preferred to stay inside to keep themselves cool and watch television or play video games. And then, there were the Kung Fu masters who patrolled around the city to make sure everyone was safe or taking on missions both in and out of the valley. Thanks to them, the civilians could live in peace... and they were very grateful for it.

What they didn't know was that they would receive a special visit today. A certain bird with black feathers arrived at the entrance of the city and looked around with his dark brown eyes. "So this is the famous Valley of Peace, huh? It sure is as beautiful as I've been told," he mumbled with a smile on his grey beak. "I wonder if they have good vodka around here?"

#

Meanwhile, on the rooftop of one of the valley's most famous Kung Fu academies, the Frog Dojo, two masters were about to clash. These were Yukan Tori, also known as Master Sunbird, and Master Kivuli, one of the greatest swordsmen - or swordswomen - in the valley. Many other students, including Master Kodok, Master Shining Eagle, Akoni, and Master Golden Cat, were sitting on the sidelines to assist this interesting sparring match.

"I bet one sandwich that Yukan is gonna win!"

"A cake that Kivuli will kick his feathered butt!"

"A whole dinner at a restaurant that they will end in a tie!"

Shining Eagle couldn't help but giggle a bit at how enthusiastic the students were about this whole ordeal. "They sure are excited, she remarked."

"Let's go, Yukan! Show them what you can do!" Akoni cheered for his orange feathered friend.

"Do you really wanna see him win or is it just as a revenge for when Kivuli knocked you out?" Kodok asked with raising an eyebrow.

"... Honestly, both," the simian admitted with a chuckle.

"Say, Mei Ling, is it true that Kivuli got new swords?" the frog then asked his friend.

"Yes; I was with her when she got to the Silver Blade and bought them," the golden cat confirmed with a nod. "That was right after her encounter with Bosan Miyamoto, the Sword of Heaven."

"So Kivuli really clashed with the best swordsman in the world?" Shining asked with a look of surprise.

"She sure did. Of course, she lost, but Miyamoto was so impressed by her determination that he asked her for a rematch in the future. You should have seen it; it was amazing!"

"A rematch against the Sword of Heaven? Good luck with that," Shining Eagle mumbled before looking back at the duel at hand. "Let's see what she can do with those new swords."

Not paying attention to the excited students around them, Yukan and Kivuli glanced into each other's eyes, ready for action. "Ready to get your butt kicked, Yukan?" the martial eagle asked with a grin.

"Not if I roast yours first," the sun parrot replied as he took his Reverse Praying Mantis stance.

"You can always dream. Come to me, Great Fire Sword!" Reaching her wing upward, Kivuli summoned her purple seal that pulled out a new sword. A two-handed one with a glowing orange blade that emanated heat. The avian took the handle in her two wings and then took her fighting stance. "Here I come!"

Charging forward, the martial eagle started swinging her burning blade at the sun parrot who did his best to dodge as trying to block the sword would certainly result in him getting burnt. Kivuli was a bit slower than she usually was with Purple Rainmaker, giving Yukan a good advantage. Ducking one horizontal slice, he planted a good punch into Kivuli's stomach, pushing her back a few feet away.

"What's wrong? Losing speed, Kivuli?" the orange bird taunted with a smirk.

"You'll see if I'm slow!" the martial eagle replied as she regained her stance. "However, I cannot deny that this sword is indeed heavier than Purple Rainmaker. Time to try something new!" With a swing of her blade, she sent a fire slice towards her opponent.

Despite not having expected this, Yukan still managed to break the attack with his wing due to being a fire master. However, the strength of the impact caused him to slide back a little. "So you have a fire sword now, huh? That's cool, but...," Yukan narrowed his emerald green eyes, "don't go thinking it can replace a true fire user!"

As Yukan charged forward, Kivuli kept sending fire slices which all missed their target. This combined with her lack of speed with her giant sword allowed Yukan to hit a dive kick in her chest and knock her back a few feet away, ending on her back.

"This Great Fire Sword looks strong, but it's never a good idea to sacrifice speed in favor of brute strength," Akoni remarked.

Recovering from the hit, Kivuli attempted to send another fire slice, but it didn't work. Looking down, she saw that her sword was no longer glowing orange except at the base and the heat seemed gone, but slowly recovering. "Crap, I used my sword's fire energy too quickly. It's gonna need time to recover." Summoning her purple seal, Kivuli pulled her Great Fire Sword away. "Come to me, sickle!"

The purple seal gave the martial eagle a sickle with the blade being curved into a half-moon. Flapping her wings, she charged at the sun parrot once again and started swinging her new weapon at him. Unlike the Great Fire Sword, this one was very fast - even more than Purple Rainmaker - and actually brushed against her opponent's orange feathers a few times.

Not wanting to finish into slices of orange, Yukan managed to grab the martial eagle's wing and flipped her over his shoulder before getting on top of her, his wing pressed against her neck to neutralize her down. He had won this match.

"Alright! Nice one, Yukan!" Shining Eagle beamed while the others clapped and cheered too.

The sun parrot turned his head and gave them all a smile before getting off Kivuli and helping her back up. "You said you were going to kick my butt, right? It doesn't seem like what happened to me," he boasted with a grin.

"Don't laugh too much, feather bag; the only reason you won is because I'm not used to my new swords yet," the martial eagle replied with pulling her sickle away into her magical seal. "If I had used Purple Rainmaker, you would have lost."

"Of course," Yukan scoffed with rolling his eyes. "Wanna go drink a little bit? Loser's the one to pay."

"With pleasure. You might have won against me in this match, but the one who will break my record of alcohol drinking isn't born yet," the purple bird declared with pride.

As if on cue, one of the Dojo's students came rushing on the rooftop with a shocked expression. "Kivuli! Kivuli! Your record of alcohol drinking is about to be broken!"

In a split-second, all the eyes on the rooftop turned toward him. "What did you just say?" the martial eagle asked in disbelief.

"T-There's a new guy that arrived in the city moments ago! He went to a bar and he's... he's drinking like he has a bottomless stomach! You have to see this! Follow me!" As the young student ran down the rooftop, the others exchanged looks before following him.

#

A few minutes later, the student led Yukan, Kivuli, Shining Eagle, Kodok, Mei Ling, and Akoni to a little bar located a few streets away from the Frog Dojo. When they arrived, they saw a large crowd already gathered inside and they seemed excited.

"You're saying he's in there?" Kivuli asked.

"Yes. Go see; you won't believe it!" the student said in excitation as he rushed inside.

"Someone who drinks more than Kivuli? That's a bit hard to believe," Kodok said with rubbing the back of his head.

"Let's get inside to find out!" the martial eagle said with a frown as she started pushing her way through the crowd in the bar. Her friends followed closely behind, excusing themselves to the excited crowd.

As they walked, Yukan looked at the ground and couldn't help but notice many bottles lying around everywhere. He took one of them and saw that it was... a bottle of vodka? In fact, now that he noticed it, all the bottles were vodka bottles. "So this guy is a vodka drinker? Could he be... No, that's impossible. He cannot possibly have come here," the sun parrot thought.

Eventually, the masters made it close enough to see the drinker in question. A male avian with black feathers who was currently drinking straight from a vodka bottle, gulping it to the very last drop before tossing it away. "Another one, please!" he called the bartender.

"If you keep this up, I'll run out of vodka for a long time. Good thing my producer gave me some extra barrels for this month," the bartender remarked as he brought another bottle of vodka to the avian who immediately started gulping it down.

"Hey, you!" Kivuli said as she walked over to the drinker and placed a wing on his shoulder. "Who are you? How can you drink so much?"

The bird turned around, revealing himself to be a black hawk with brown eyes. He wore brown jean pants and a vest open to left his strong torso exposed. "What do you want?" he asked with a clear tone, not looking drunk at all.

"Sorry if we're bothering you, sir, but we heard that you were drinking a lot more than our friend. Is this true?" Kodok politely asked.

"That depends. Has your friend managed to drink 40 bottles of vodka before?" the black hawk asked.

"No, but I managed to drink 50 cups of sake," Kivuli replied, crossing her wings with pride.

"Really?" the male avian asked with a smirk. "Because I'm only getting started. I'm capable of ingesting a whole lot more alcohol than this." The black bird then turned his head and showed a surprised expression upon seeing Shining Eagle and Mei Ling. "... Wow, those are quite the beauties we have there. Are you free tonight?"

This sudden question caused Shining Eagle to blush a bit and Mei Ling to giggle. "WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!" Akoni shouted in a scolding tone.

At the same moment, Yukan finally managed to break through the crowd and join the others. "I'm here! What's going on, guys?" However, his emerald green eyes suddenly widened as far as they could go upon seeing the black bird. "Y-You?!"

When he turned his head and saw him, the black hawk gave the exact same look of shock and surprise. "T-Tori?"

The whole bar fell silent as the two birds looked at each other. Everyone gazed alternately at the two of them with confused expressions. They didn't understand what was going on, but the tension was very heavy and they could hear a fly buzzing.

"What's going on? You know that guy, Yukan?" Shining Eagle decided to ask after a moment.

The sun parrot narrowed his eyes into a glare before replying. "No, not an idea. This is just nobody."

"What is a scumbag like you doing in here?" the black hawk asked after narrowing his eyes into a glare too.

"Hey, watch what you're saying!" Kodok said, not liking how he insulted his friend. "Yukan is not a scumbag; he's a master of the Frog Dojo and a hero of the Valley of Peace!"

This caused him to widen his brown eyes a little bit. "A master of the Frog Dojo?" He then turned to look at Yukan. "So you joined a new Dojo, huh? I'm not really surprised coming from someone running away from challenges."

"Shut up, Black Hawk!" Yukan angrily yelled, finally revealing the black bird's name.

The more they talked, the more the Frog Dojo masters did not understand what was happening. Who was Black Hawk? How did he know Yukan? And why did it seem like there was a huge hostility between the two of them?

Black Hawk crossed his wings and looked at the masters. "Do you at least know who this bird is?" This question earned him confused looks from Kivuli, Shining Eagle, Kodok, Akoni, and Mei Ling.

"SHUT UP!"

Suddenly, Yukan charged forward out of nowhere and delivered a violent punch across Black Hawk's face, sending him flying across the bar and through the room's wall, piercing a big hole through the bricks. This made everyone jump and most of them ran away, having not expected such reaction from a Kung Fu master. "Yukan! Why did you do that?" Shining Eagle asked in a shocked tone.

However, her orange friend did not answer and simply walked forward in a firm way, crossing the hole he broke through the wall. Black Hawk crashed into a pile of garbage outside, but that didn't stop him from getting back on his two feet with his eyes half-closed, as if uninterested. "I already lost everything once; I won't let that happen again because of you!" he declared in a hateful voice.

Black Hawk scoffed. "You have no one to blame but yourself for what happened!"

"Come at me! I'm gonna kick your ass once and for all to prove that I'm not a weakling like all of you believed!" the sun parrot declared as he took his Reverse Praying Mantis stance.

"I see no interest in fighting you: you just want attention and you won't get any from me," Black Hawk simply said with looking away.

Groaning in anger, Yukan launched himself at full speed toward his opponent. "ROARING FIST!" Black Hawk simply moved his head to the side to avoid the burning fist at the last second and then planted his wing into Yukan's chest. He created an explosion that sent the orange bird flying back and crash into the street, forming a crack below him.

"YUKAN!" Shining Eagle exclaimed in shock.

"Did he just create an explosion with his wing?" Akoni asked.

"Yes; it's the elemental power of combustion," Mei Ling said. "It is one of fire's secondary elements; Master Shujinko told me about it once. But I've never seen one user in real life."

"Hold on, Yukan! We're coming!" Kivuli said, ready to jump in action.

"NO!" Yukan firmly said, stopping his friend with a wing as he stood back up. "This is my fight and mine alone!" He then glared back at Black Hawk. "I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" As he shouted this at the top of his lungs, the sun parrot's body erupted with fire that caused the ground around him to melt a little bit.

The black bird sighed in annoyance, cracking his wings. "Alright, if that's how you want things to be, so be it."

The two birds glared at each other for a moment before charging forward at the same time, Yukan setting both of his fists on fire. Black Hawk launched one of his wings forward and created an explosion with it. Yukan, however, managed to duck it and hit his burning fist into his opponent's stomach, making him spit saliva, and sending him flying back.

He used his two feet to hit the wall of a building and stop himself from crashing. Just then, the sun parrot arrived and hit him with his two burning fists, creating a fire explosion. The heat wave it caused forced the Frog Dojo masters to cover themselves with their arms/wings.

"Dang it! Is he always so aggressive in battle?" Akoni asked, surprised by Yukan's brutality.

"No; that's the first time he's like this," Mei Ling replied. "I don't understand. Even when he fought against Temutai, he didn't display such anger and aggressiveness What does he have against this Black Hawk guy?"

While her friends talked, Shining Eagle watched the fight unfolding before her eyes. "Yukan..."

Just then, the two fighting birds came jumping out of the building with Yukan hitting a Roaring Fist across Black Hawk's face. He attempted to follow with a burning kick which the black bird blocked with his wing. Jumping back, the two charged again, Yukan going for a Roaring Fist and Black Hawk for a combustion hit. As the two attacks touched, they cancelled each other. They kept attacking over and over again, neither attack touching the other.

"Decidedly, you haven't changed at all, Yukan," Black Hawk criticized as he kept attacking. "You only attack without thinking and you let your emotions get the better of you."

"SHUT UP!" Yukan went for another Roaring Fist. However, his opponent crouched down and delivered a devastating uppercut across his beak, sending him up to crash on the floor a few feet away. As Yukan got back up while rubbing some blood off his beak, Black Hawk rose his wing and three little lights sparkled in succession out of thin air. Widening his eyes, the sun parrot jumped away just as explosions appeared on the spots of these three lights.

"W-Where did these explosions come from?!" Kivuli asked in confusion. "Black Hawk was many feet away from Yukan!"

"That's the power of combustion; it sees its user focusing his energy on a particular spot to create an explosion," Mei Ling explained. "Black Hawk must have focused his energy on these three spots to create these explosions."

"Are you saying that he can attack Yukan from wherever he wants?!" Kodok asked in shock.

Black Hawk kept creating explosions on Yukan's positions, trying to hit him. The sun parrot, on the other end, ran continuously and jumped around to avoid the explosions. Eventually, he jumped in the air and charged fire energy in his lungs. "PHOENIX BREATH!" The jet of fire he spat forced Black Hawk to jump up in order to avoid being turned into a roasted chicken.

"Now!" Yukan thought as he saw his chance. While Black Hawk was in midair, he flapped his wings to dart at him and went for a spin kick. The black bird blocked with his wings, but was still sent crashing into a nearby building.

"Alright, enough playing!" Black Hawk jumped out of the building as fast as he got in and managed to land a big combustion hit in Yukan's torso, sending him to crash back on the ground. He coughed a bit in pain, feeling like his bones were about to break. Just then, he saw a shadow growing on the ground and rolled out of the way in time to avoid Black Hawk, who planted his wing into the ground for another combustion strike, forming a little crater.

Unfortunately, if Yukan thought he would get any time to rest, he was wrong. Black Hawk got after him again, hitting an uppercut to his chin followed by a spin kick to his stomach that made him spit some blood. Then, Black Hawk grabbed his head into his wing, lifting and slamming it hard on the ground.

"You wanted this fight? Then I'm gonna satisfy your blood lust!" The black bird then started causing one explosion after the other with his wing while still holding Yukan's head. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The Frog Dojo's masters watched the scene in horror. If this kept going on, Yukan would get his whole head carbonized.

"STOP!" Not taking time to think, Shining Eagle charged and hit a dive kick across Black Hawk's beak, making him stumble back and let go of Yukan's head.

Understanding that their friend had already lost anyway, the others joined as well, taking a defensive formation around Yukan. They saw that their friend was out cold with burnt marks all over his face. "What's wrong with you? What do you have against Yukan? Explain!" Kodok demanded.

Black Hawk stared at them for a moment... before sighing. "Just ask him when he awakes; I think it would be better if you heard it from his beak." He then opened his wings and flew away. "Sorry for the trouble."

The friends watched the black figure flying away for a while before Shining Eagle went to take Yukan in her wings, looking at his roasted face in worry. "Yukan... We must get him medical attention!"

**Author's note: This is why I was so excited to write this chapter: we will finally get to learn about Yukan's past. It's a subject I've brought to the table many times in the past, but never really took time to explore. It's in the next chapter that the truth will finally come out.**

**I seriously hope all the build up I've done up to that point will pay off. Stay stunned and may the gods watch over you all.**


	40. Where I belong

**Author's note: Here we are, my dear friends. The 40th and final chapter of this story. Don't the wrong idea: this isn't the end of the Frog Dojo's adventures. In fact, I still have plenty of ideas. It's just that we're gonna leave each other for now. I sure hope you will enjoy this finale.**

The first thing Yukan became aware of when he regained consciousness was the burning pain over his face. That's when he remembered how Black Hawk grabbed his head with his wing and created explosions just before he passed out. Did it mean he... lost? Dang it... but then again, what did he expect? It's not like he could have won against the champion of the Phoenix Sanctuary after all.

"... Is he okay?" a distant voice asked.

"Yes... I think he's coming back... Yukan...?"

After blinking his eyes a few times, the sun parrot managed to see correctly. He was lying on an infirmary bed with Shining Eagle, Kivuli, Kodok, Mei Ling, Akoni, and even Master shujinko standing around with looks of concern on their faces. "Yukan, are you okay?" Shining asked.

"Well... I feel like my head passed into a toaster, but except that, I'm fine," he replied, touching a wing to his head and wincing at the feeling. "What happened?"

"This Black Hawk guy tried to roast your head up with his combustion powers, but Shining Eagle jumped in time to stop him," Akoni explained. "Geez, that was quite a violent duel you had back there, dude."

"I would like to have some explanations, Yukan," Shujinko said in an unusual serious and almost scolding tone. "My students told me that you attacked a traveler for seemingly no reason, caused a lot of damage in the city that I will have to pay for, and you have put civilians in harm's way by fighting in a public space! Just what went through your little mind?"

Yukan lowered his head in shame. "I-I'm sorry, Master... It's because... this guy..."

"Don't try to hide it: it's clear that you have some sort of history with him," Kivuli said with a serious look. "I've never seen you act so aggressively, not even against Temutai. After the trouble you caused, I can safely say that you own us an explanation."

"But I-"

"Yukan, please," Shining Eagle said in a begging tone. "I know you said you didn't want to talk about your past until you felt ready for it... but it's clear that it's causing you trouble. First, you give up the Legendary Tournament, and now, your fight with this guy. Why are you keeping us in the dark? We're your friends, Yukan. Don't you trust us?"

Yukan was about to reply back... but decided to remain quiet. They were right; how could his friends ever trust him moving forward if he refused to tell them about his past? He couldn't just keep his secret in the dark forever. It would probably end his friendship with them... but he had to do it. "Alright, I will tell you everything," he softly said before looking up at everyone.

"As I said at the Legendary Tournament's feast, I was born in the village of Riho in Japan. When I was a kid, I watched Kung Fu warriors in action, protecting my country and performing amazing feats. It didn't take me long to realize that I wanted to be just like them and become a great Kung Fu master. Luck decided to smile at me as I discovered my fire powers at a very young age and everyone in my village saw me as a blessed warrior who could accomplish anything."

Yukan marked a pause to lower his emerald green eyes. "If only they knew... I submitted a demand to one of the country's best academies for martial arts, magical powers, and pretty much anything that can turn one into a warrior, the Phoenix Sanctuary. My demand has been accepted and I was welcomed into the academy. It's there that I met everyone that would form my entourage until this year."

"Black Hawk was one of them. He was the strongest member of my class and a true genius. So amazing that, for a time, I actually idolized him, wishing to one become as great and awesome as him."

"Did you have other friends there, Yukan?" Akoni asked.

"Yes. One of them was a black owl called James. When he started at the academy, he felt nervous and unsure of himself. I was there to keep him motivated and told him that he could do it. It didn't take a long time for he and I to become close friends. There was also a peregrine falcon called Rakonto. He was a native Indian who came to the Phoenix Sanctuary because he learned how to fight like a hunter in the wild and wanted to become stronger by learning in the modern world. Believe it or not, but he is blessed by three Great Spirits who guide him in battle and also in life. One of the strongest guys I have ever seen."

"There was also Sora... The most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She was born in Saudi Arabia and adopted by a Sultan who took great care of her. Along with being a blessed dancer, she was also a great warrior, having mastered three different fighting styles: Ninjitsu, Berserker, and her own creation, the Sky Dance." Yukan closed his eyes a moment. "I had a crush on her the moment our eyes met. It took me a while, but I ended up finding the courage to ask her out and we started dating."

Shining Eagle blinked her golden eyes a few times. "... You dated a Middle Eastern heiress before coming here?"

"Yes," the sun parrot confirmed. "The last member of my class was a parrot named Lucas who came from Canada. He was a big happy-go-lucky goofball... and that's why I liked him. He and I became close friends too. In fact, for a time, all my class went along perfectly well: we were a big team taking on missions and looking after each other."

Kodok decided to voice the thought on everyone's mind: "I feel like the worst part is about to come."

"Then... everything started changing... My friends were growing stronger and better as time went on. They were receiving all the credit for our missions. But me... I was not. No matter how hard I worked, I was not able to keep up with them. I was starting to lose track of them and I wasn't going to win Black Hawk's respect anytime soon. For a time, becoming stronger was everything that mattered to me: I started neglecting things like eating, washing, caring about my friends, or spending time with my girlfriend."

"One day, I crossed the line. I went to steal a dangerous artifact inside the academy's storehouse: the Red Ruby of Fire. It did make me stronger... but it also caused me to lose my mind. I wrecked havoc into the academy and my friends were forced to fight me. In the end, they managed to neutralize me and take the ruby away. However, the fight caused a lot of damage. During the battle, I made a pillar collapse on Lucas' back, which caused him to lose the use of his legs."

Yukan sniffed a bit. "Lucas' career was put to an end because of me. And that wasn't the only thing that ended that day. Black Hawk... he was furious at me. He said that what I did was inexcusable, that I had put everyone in danger for selfish reasons and that I brought shame not only to the Phoenix Sanctuary, but also to all of Kung Fu. He said that he was done with me and walked away..."

By this point, everyone could clearly see that the sun parrot was fighting to keep his tears inside. "Sora, James, Rakonto... they did not talk to me at all. Even then, I could tell they were ferociously mad at me. Who could doubt it? I can tell when I'm no longer wanted somewhere, so I packed up my things, left an apology note on my bed, and left. I checked online for a good Kung Fu Dojo to join and decided to settle for the Valley of Peace in China where nobody knew who I was."

A dead silence fell in the infirmary room. Yukan looked up to see all of his friends having their eyes wide open. Somehow, this did not surprise him. They now knew who he truly was. And all the atrocities he had done. It was hard to accept, but... they probably no longer wanted to have anything to do with him. It had to happen sooner or later: Yukan lost a second home...

The poor bird did everything he could to not start crying. He simply pulled himself out of his bed and started walking away without looking at anyone, not wanting to see their looks of disgust. "I'll go pack up my things and leave...," he mumbled barely louder than a whisper. The tears were starting to burn behind his eyes. He needed to get out of here as fast possible. He would have all the time to cry when he would be alone and-

However, before he could cross the infirmary door, the sun parrot got stopped by a pair of wings that wrapped themselves around his body. His emerald eyes widened in surprise and confusion before lowering down. These wings were white. He slowly turned his head to see their owner. "S-Shining?"

The female eagle firmly held onto her avian friend, pressing herself against his back. Her golden eyes were wet with tears and her beak was quivering, almost in a pleading way. "Don't go, Yukan..."

... What? Did she really say that? B-But why would she-

"Yeah, Yukan! I see no reason why you should leave!" Kodok declared, jumping in front of his friend with a determined look. "I don't care what this Black Hawk guy thinks; you're my friend and it's like this!"

"Kodok is right, Yukan," Kivuli said with a serious look as she came to stand beside her amphibian friend. "You did one stupid thing, so what? We all have done things that we regret at one point in our lives. What matters is that you learn from your mistakes and let them make you a better person."

Mei Ling then came to put a paw on the parrot's shoulder. "We all know how you are inside, Yukan." She pointed at his chest. "You have a very strong heart - strong enough to stand up for those who need help. You showed it when you defended the Evergreen Village from the Qidan Clan. You're not perfect, but you're good no less."

"Do you seriously think I care about one stupid mistake you have done, Yukan?" Akoni asked, coming to put both hands on his shoulders. "Listen up; it's thanks to you that I escaped from these criminals and got to be with my sister again. I couldn't care less about what you just told me: you're my friend and that's final."

Finally, Master Shujinko sent his tongue to grab Yukan's shoulder and pulled him down so that he could wrap his arms around his neck in a hug. "Yukan, remember when I told you the day you arrived here that I consider all the members of the Frog Dojo like family? That wasn't a lie. You are part of my family, young Yukan..."

Yukan could not believe what he was hearing. Even after he openly told them the terrible things he had done... they were still willing to keep him as a member of the Frog Dojo? B-But how?! He did not deserve their friendship... even less their love... Unable to contain them any longer, the tears came out of Yukan's emerald green eyes and flowed down onto his cheeks. His beak trembled and he returned the hug to his mast... to Shujinko.

Soon, everyone came to wrap their arms/wings around the sun parrot, giving him the love he thought he would never get to feel again. This warm feeling that took the pain of his loneliness away. He loved his friends, all of them. Master Shujinko, Shining Eagle, Kivuli, Kodok, Mei Ling, and Akoni.

_"I'm not alone anymore... I finally found where I belong..."_

**Author's note: There you have it, my friends. The conclusion of "The Frog Dojo". It was so emotional that I cried a little bit, I'm not afraid of admitting it.**

**As I said at the beginning of this chapter, it's not the end of the Frog Dojo; there will be a sequel in the future. It's just that we're gonna explore other parts of my KFP world before then. And we're gonna start with a story called "A Panda's Legend" which will follow Po, explaining how he became the Dragon Warrior, and also what he's gonna do after the Legendary Tournament.**

**I wanna thank all of you who have read this story until the end. To be honest, it hasn't exactly had the success I was hoping for, but hey, disappointment is part of life. Special thanks t****o ****Th3F4lcon-Bl4ckBlu3, The Grey Coincidence, TheDragonSaver, and DeadlyIce88 who reviewed and helped me make this story much better.**

**As always, constructive reviews are welcome, may the gods watch over you all, and see you soon :)**


End file.
